(via Bad Newspaper)
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Year-end Lists 2019: Personal
Like every year, I've had to sit and think about it a while to remember if anything notable has happened in my personal life. A few things have changed.
Late in the year, I managed to get back to working from home full time. Well, sort of. I'm not working as much and I'm making half as much money, so I call myself semi-retired. But I got an opportunity to write for the new website Considerable, which I very much appreciate, and a slightly-expanded role at Neatorama. I am also contributing a little to Geeks Are Sexy, again. Therefore, I was able to end my year of working as a part-time grocery store baker. I learned a lot there, about corporate politics, the advantages and drawbacks of labor unions, and oh yeah, baking. It took about three months for my left shoulder and my right wrist to stop hurting, and I appreciate the luxury of sitting down and standing up without pain. By January, I'll probably be back up to my normal weight.
My daughters both entered their senior year in college. Princess' husband (I should refer to him as the French Prince) will complete his education in the spring, too, with a master's degree in computer programming. He doesn't yet know where he'll be working after that. Princess is preparing to join him in some new place, probably in France, for a very different life. Gothgrrl is busy trying to get into veterinary school. She's already had a few interviews and one acceptance, but it was be spring before she knows where she'll go.
One of my stepdaughters got married in 2019, so that's four of the six sisters married, all but the youngest two. Another gave birth to her second child, which makes five grandchildren.
Three years after GoGo died, I finally got another cat. You recall the kitten Frisby? She's ten months old now, still tiny but happy. I have a feeling she'll always be the smallest cat in the colony.
The garden did well this year, and I now have a freezer full of squash, so I can skip planting that in 2020. The flowers were delightful, as you can see in the picture here. The mower and tiller got repaired, as well as two furnaces, and I replaced the water heater when it fell apart. I'm still doing without an oven a year later, and don't miss it. But I'm coming around to the idea that my kitchen will have to be completely remodeled in a few years, as my cheap cabinets are rotting away. The same with the back deck.
Right now, both girls and my son-in-law are here. Princess and the French Prince will most likely not be here next year, and Gothgrrl's future is up in the air, so we are packing all the fun we can into this last week of school vacation. Happy New Year, everyone!
Late in the year, I managed to get back to working from home full time. Well, sort of. I'm not working as much and I'm making half as much money, so I call myself semi-retired. But I got an opportunity to write for the new website Considerable, which I very much appreciate, and a slightly-expanded role at Neatorama. I am also contributing a little to Geeks Are Sexy, again. Therefore, I was able to end my year of working as a part-time grocery store baker. I learned a lot there, about corporate politics, the advantages and drawbacks of labor unions, and oh yeah, baking. It took about three months for my left shoulder and my right wrist to stop hurting, and I appreciate the luxury of sitting down and standing up without pain. By January, I'll probably be back up to my normal weight.
My daughters both entered their senior year in college. Princess' husband (I should refer to him as the French Prince) will complete his education in the spring, too, with a master's degree in computer programming. He doesn't yet know where he'll be working after that. Princess is preparing to join him in some new place, probably in France, for a very different life. Gothgrrl is busy trying to get into veterinary school. She's already had a few interviews and one acceptance, but it was be spring before she knows where she'll go.
One of my stepdaughters got married in 2019, so that's four of the six sisters married, all but the youngest two. Another gave birth to her second child, which makes five grandchildren.
Three years after GoGo died, I finally got another cat. You recall the kitten Frisby? She's ten months old now, still tiny but happy. I have a feeling she'll always be the smallest cat in the colony.
The garden did well this year, and I now have a freezer full of squash, so I can skip planting that in 2020. The flowers were delightful, as you can see in the picture here. The mower and tiller got repaired, as well as two furnaces, and I replaced the water heater when it fell apart. I'm still doing without an oven a year later, and don't miss it. But I'm coming around to the idea that my kitchen will have to be completely remodeled in a few years, as my cheap cabinets are rotting away. The same with the back deck.
Right now, both girls and my son-in-law are here. Princess and the French Prince will most likely not be here next year, and Gothgrrl's future is up in the air, so we are packing all the fun we can into this last week of school vacation. Happy New Year, everyone!
Misère Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-tac-toe is a boring game, once you get the hang of it. The only way to win is to play someone who hasn't mastered it, and mastering it is fairly easy. But you can change it up. Numberphile explains the variant Misère Tic-tac-toe, in which both players use X and the first to get three in a row is the loser. Then he explains how to win. Part two of the tic-tac-toe talk is at Boing Boing.
Venn
Look hard enough, and you can find things that anyone has in common. This graph is from Matt Shirley.
Year-end Lists 2019: Miscellaneous
2019, in 6 minutes
It was an eventful year.
The Good, Bad And WTF Moments That Defined 2019.
All the ways the world made it harder to be a good person in 2019.
Garbage Trends From 2019 That Need To Die.
3 major franchises came to an end in 2019. Only one stuck the landing.
The 50 Best Beers of 2019.
The Competition-Winning Architecture of 2019. And the 5 most impressive prefab homes of 2019.
Dezeen's top 10 furniture designs of 2019.
The Weirdest Medical Cases of 2019.
The Fictional People and Things We Lost in 2019.
The 15 Crazy Objects That Defined an Even Crazier 2019.
The state of white privilege in 2019.
The World’s 10 Most Popular Tourist Attractions in 2019.
2019 was the year of the tube, from the salmon cannon to long Furbies. Forget that the salmon cannon has been around for five years, it went viral again in 2019.
What Did We Get Stuck in Our Rectums Last Year?
2019’s most important clothes, from Mueller T-shirts to Lil Nas X’s cowboy hat.
Things We'll Probably Cancel In 2020.
The very worst denim trends of 2019 (no, you cannot unsee this).
100 Things We Learned in 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
It was an eventful year.
The Good, Bad And WTF Moments That Defined 2019.
All the ways the world made it harder to be a good person in 2019.
Garbage Trends From 2019 That Need To Die.
3 major franchises came to an end in 2019. Only one stuck the landing.
The 50 Best Beers of 2019.
The Competition-Winning Architecture of 2019. And the 5 most impressive prefab homes of 2019.
Dezeen's top 10 furniture designs of 2019.
The Weirdest Medical Cases of 2019.
The Fictional People and Things We Lost in 2019.
The 15 Crazy Objects That Defined an Even Crazier 2019.
The state of white privilege in 2019.
The World’s 10 Most Popular Tourist Attractions in 2019.
2019 was the year of the tube, from the salmon cannon to long Furbies. Forget that the salmon cannon has been around for five years, it went viral again in 2019.
What Did We Get Stuck in Our Rectums Last Year?
2019’s most important clothes, from Mueller T-shirts to Lil Nas X’s cowboy hat.
Things We'll Probably Cancel In 2020.
The very worst denim trends of 2019 (no, you cannot unsee this).
100 Things We Learned in 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
Miss Cellania's Links
First post-Brexit British car rolls off production line. (Thanks, Ken!)
The Insane Life of the Man Who Killed John Wilkes Booth. He was mad as a hatter because he was a hatter when he wasn't a soldier fighting for the Union Army.
The Joy of Cosmic Mediocrity. (via Damn Interesting)
If You’re so Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? Turns out It’s Just Chance.
10 Places That Are Always on Fire.
This Is How We'd All Die Instantly If The Sun Suddenly Went Supernova. (via Damn Interesting)
Read Curtis Sittenfeld’s Original Short Story “White Women LOL.” (via Metafilter)
What Is the Hottest Place on Earth? (via Digg)
A blast from the past (2007): Some Food Origins.
Why Everyone Should Have a Dog
For the laughs! This supercut was culled from clips from America's Funniest Home Videos. (via Bits and Pieces)
Tweet of the Day
Our house is on fire.#2019in5words— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2019
How do you sum up 2019 in five words? Greta Thunberg wins the challenge. See more attempts here. (via Mashable)
Monday, December 30, 2019
Year-end Lists 2019: Best of Blogs & Websites
Multifandom Mashup 2019
Pteryx Videos brings us a masterfully-edited mashup of 2019. While the clips are mostly from movies, you'll also see some TV, news, and internet videos. It's altogether enjoyable.
Fark's Headline of the Year finalists. Links to all categories here.
Flickr's top 25 photos of 2019 from around the world.
Atlas Obscura's Favorite Places of 2019.
The 100 Most Popular io9 Posts of 2019.
Revisiting TYWKIWDBI's "Best of 2019."
Longreads Best of 2019: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks.
Mental Floss's 35 Most Popular Stories of 2019.
The 20 Most Popular Cracked Columns Of 2019.
The 19 Most Popular MessyNessy Articles of 2019.
Smithsonian's Top Ten Stories of 2019.
2019’s most commented stories on Ars Technica—and their top comments!
Ars Technica's 20 most popular sci-tech stories of 2019.
The Best of BBC Travel 2019.
The Best of Strange Company 2019.
The Most Interesting Insights From Pornhub’s ‘2019 Year In Review.’ Not the actual report, but it's linked if you want it.
See all the year-end lists here.
Pteryx Videos brings us a masterfully-edited mashup of 2019. While the clips are mostly from movies, you'll also see some TV, news, and internet videos. It's altogether enjoyable.
Fark's Headline of the Year finalists. Links to all categories here.
Flickr's top 25 photos of 2019 from around the world.
Atlas Obscura's Favorite Places of 2019.
The 100 Most Popular io9 Posts of 2019.
Revisiting TYWKIWDBI's "Best of 2019."
Longreads Best of 2019: All of Our No. 1 Story Picks.
Mental Floss's 35 Most Popular Stories of 2019.
The 20 Most Popular Cracked Columns Of 2019.
The 19 Most Popular MessyNessy Articles of 2019.
Smithsonian's Top Ten Stories of 2019.
2019’s most commented stories on Ars Technica—and their top comments!
Ars Technica's 20 most popular sci-tech stories of 2019.
The Best of BBC Travel 2019.
The Best of Strange Company 2019.
The Most Interesting Insights From Pornhub’s ‘2019 Year In Review.’ Not the actual report, but it's linked if you want it.
See all the year-end lists here.
Why It's Already 2020
This time of year, we become a bit obsessed with daylight, days, and calendars. The new year is just a man-made concept, an arbitrary place to start a new calendar, while the revolution of the earth around the sun is a concrete amount of time we can measure. However, when the days, weeks, months, and years don't line up with each other for a variety of reasons, people tend to "fix" the calendar to be more useful for the moment. That leads us to the different calendars used for different purposes. On elf them is based on weeks for financial uses, and its also been appropriated for computer coding, which leads to some weird anomalies. Tom Scott explains.
Year-end Lists 2019: Politics
The Biggest False Claims of 2019
The Washington Post fact checkers tell us what they've been doing all year. They've been busy.
Impeachment and other historic moments: A look at 2019 in 325 political headlines.
NPR's 10 Most-Read Political Stories Of 2019 Reflect A Shifting Capitol Power Dynamic.
Lie of the Year 2019: Donald Trump’s claim whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong.'
Overlooked Political Stories Of 2019.
The Year in Politics Quiz.
In Memoriam: All The Democratic Presidential Candidates We Lost This Year.
The wildest political moments of 2019
This post is shorter than in past years, due to 1. the biggest mainstream sources being paywalled, 2. smaller sources becoming way too slanted or possibly infiltrated, and 3. the entire subject being neither fun nor funny anymore.
See all the year-end lists here.
The Washington Post fact checkers tell us what they've been doing all year. They've been busy.
Impeachment and other historic moments: A look at 2019 in 325 political headlines.
NPR's 10 Most-Read Political Stories Of 2019 Reflect A Shifting Capitol Power Dynamic.
Lie of the Year 2019: Donald Trump’s claim whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong.'
Trump's Best Words (2019) pic.twitter.com/EEDS4BJpci— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 20, 2019
Overlooked Political Stories Of 2019.
The Year in Politics Quiz.
In Memoriam: All The Democratic Presidential Candidates We Lost This Year.
The wildest political moments of 2019
This post is shorter than in past years, due to 1. the biggest mainstream sources being paywalled, 2. smaller sources becoming way too slanted or possibly infiltrated, and 3. the entire subject being neither fun nor funny anymore.
See all the year-end lists here.
Become a Better Being
Resolutions. They are talking about New Year's resolutions. They will soon find out how ephemeral those things really are. This comic is from Nathan Pyle's Strange Planet.
Year-end Lists 2019: News & Photographs
2019: A year of major protests
CNN's top 100 digital stories of 2019.
MSN's biggest news stories of 2019.
The 7 Most Defining #MeToo Moments of 2019.
17 Explosive BuzzFeed News Investigations That Made Waves In 2019.
What were we obsessed with, invested in and plagued by in 2019? Hazlitt’s writers reflect on the issues, big and small.
Media at a flashpoint: 2019 year in review.
49 journalists were murdered in 2019, the lowest death toll in 16 years.
The 7 protest moments that defined 2019.
10 Important Stories You Might Have Missed in 2019.
The insane news cycles of 2019.
2019’s biggest pop-culture trend was climate anxiety.
99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn't Hear About in 2019. They are categorized instead of ranked.
The 50 Craziest Things That Have Happened In Florida In 2019.
The weirdest and most bizarre crime stories of 2019.
The 10 Funniest Media Mistakes & Corrections of 2019.
The Funniest Local News Bloopers of 2019
Yeah, it's easy to mess up a word or two when you're live on air, but it's hard to just correct and go on when the entire studio is laughing at you. This is a long video, but you don't have to watch it all at once.
National Geographic's Best Photos of 2019.
The New York Times' Year in Pictures 2019.
The Atlantic's 2019 in Photos: Wrapping Up the Year.
The Atlantic's Top 25 News Photos of 2019.
CNN's 2019: The year in pictures.
See all the year-end lists here.
CNN's top 100 digital stories of 2019.
MSN's biggest news stories of 2019.
The 7 Most Defining #MeToo Moments of 2019.
17 Explosive BuzzFeed News Investigations That Made Waves In 2019.
What were we obsessed with, invested in and plagued by in 2019? Hazlitt’s writers reflect on the issues, big and small.
Media at a flashpoint: 2019 year in review.
49 journalists were murdered in 2019, the lowest death toll in 16 years.
The 7 protest moments that defined 2019.
10 Important Stories You Might Have Missed in 2019.
The insane news cycles of 2019.
2019’s biggest pop-culture trend was climate anxiety.
99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn't Hear About in 2019. They are categorized instead of ranked.
The 50 Craziest Things That Have Happened In Florida In 2019.
The weirdest and most bizarre crime stories of 2019.
The 10 Funniest Media Mistakes & Corrections of 2019.
The Funniest Local News Bloopers of 2019
Yeah, it's easy to mess up a word or two when you're live on air, but it's hard to just correct and go on when the entire studio is laughing at you. This is a long video, but you don't have to watch it all at once.
National Geographic's Best Photos of 2019.
The New York Times' Year in Pictures 2019.
The Atlantic's 2019 in Photos: Wrapping Up the Year.
The Atlantic's Top 25 News Photos of 2019.
CNN's 2019: The year in pictures.
See all the year-end lists here.
Miss Cellania's Links
Two Bison Attacks, One Harrowing Date. What are the odds? (via Damn Interesting)
The Australian Floating Hotel That Ended Up in North Korea.
Love, loss, and Carrie Fisher’s Lamp.
How Do Dollar Stores Make Money? (via Mental Floss)
23 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Tweets That Made Me Laugh Real Hard.
The Unsolved Case of the Missing Perfume Heiress.
What Are the Most Useless Superpowers?
I asked the public to send me anonymous confessions. I learned some terrible truths. (via Digg)
A blast from the past (2007): 6 New Year Traditions from Around the World.
Tweet of the Day
My New Year’s resolution is to use this word in as many tweets as possible in 2020. https://t.co/OmY7x1mpBo— Marilyn Bellamy (@NagOnTheLake) December 28, 2019
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Year-end Lists 2019: Internet
Google's Year in Search 2019
Good to see something focused on the good things that happened this year. That's an inspiring video, but to find out what people really searched for in 2019, check out the Google Trend report for 2019. Spoiler: the number one Google search was for Disney Plus. You can see by this graph that interest peaked during the week the service launched, and not when Baby Yoda first appeared.
42 Memes That Defined 2019.
TikTok Top 100: Celebrating the videos and creative community that made TikTok so lovable in 2019.
The Year in Twitter.
Wikipedia’s most popular articles of 2019.
Digg Editors' Favorite Writing And Internet Culture Of 2019.
The very best Instagram posts of 2019.
Facebook Security Debacles: 2019 Year in Review.
The Stories From 2019 YouTube Hopes You Forgot.
The Old Internet Died And We Watched And Did Nothing.
The worst things on the internet in 2019.
The 50 Worst Passwords of the Year.
YouTube Rewind 2019: For the Record
Last year, YouTube's year-end rewind video was a music video of their most popular content creators singing and dancing about YouTube. It didn't go over well. This year, they are counting down the most "liked" videos in many different categories. I did not see most of those videos. This video did not go over all that well, either.
See all the year-end lists here.
Good to see something focused on the good things that happened this year. That's an inspiring video, but to find out what people really searched for in 2019, check out the Google Trend report for 2019. Spoiler: the number one Google search was for Disney Plus. You can see by this graph that interest peaked during the week the service launched, and not when Baby Yoda first appeared.
42 Memes That Defined 2019.
TikTok Top 100: Celebrating the videos and creative community that made TikTok so lovable in 2019.
The Year in Twitter.
Wikipedia’s most popular articles of 2019.
Digg Editors' Favorite Writing And Internet Culture Of 2019.
The very best Instagram posts of 2019.
Facebook Security Debacles: 2019 Year in Review.
The Stories From 2019 YouTube Hopes You Forgot.
The Old Internet Died And We Watched And Did Nothing.
The worst things on the internet in 2019.
The 50 Worst Passwords of the Year.
YouTube Rewind 2019: For the Record
Last year, YouTube's year-end rewind video was a music video of their most popular content creators singing and dancing about YouTube. It didn't go over well. This year, they are counting down the most "liked" videos in many different categories. I did not see most of those videos. This video did not go over all that well, either.
See all the year-end lists here.
Diet is Coming
No, we still have leftovers, and pork and black-eyed peas for the New Year. (via reddit)
Year-end Lists 2019: Animals
Meet the American animals that bounced back in 2019.
These species went extinct in 2019.
Endangered animals: WWF's winners and losers of 2019.
Scientists discovered 71 new species this year. Here are some of their favorites.
The 10 Strangest Animal Stories of 2019.
These are National Geographic's best animal photos of 2019.
The Most Popular Dog and Cat Names of 2019.
The best boys and girls of 2019. We don't deserve dogs.
Here Are The Best Dog Tweets Of 2019.
Celebs and their pets in 2019.
Remembering the Celebrity Pets We Lost in 2019.
Beloved Animals We Lost in 2019. Then Lil Bub left us after that was published.
RIP Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat
See all the year-end lists here.
Our Modern World
How come I get the feeling this is only a step up what what has already happened? This comic is from Tim at Elder Cactus. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Year-end Lists 2019: People
Time's 2019 Person of the Year: Greta Thunberg.
The Time 100: Most Influential People of 2019.
Hong Kong Protestors Win TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year Reader Poll.
Ranker's Most Influential People in 2019. Based on internet votes.
Time's 25 Most Influential People on the Internet.
The Root 100. Our annual list of the most influential African Americans.
Heroes: CNN honors 10 men and women for making the world a better place.
The 25 Richest People in the World 2019.
The Most Inspiring Women of 2019 According, Naturally, to Jezebel.
The many tech CEO fails of 2019.
The Hottest Men Of 2019, Ranked. Based on internet votes.
The Year in Stupidity.
All The Relationships That Bit The Dust In 2019.
The Most Beautiful Celebrity Weddings Of 2019.
People we lost in 2019.
Remembering the Stars We Lost in 2019.
The Trans Obituaries Project: Honoring the Trans Women of Color Lost in 2019.
Where Aren't They Now? 25 Overlooked Deaths Of 2019. Part one and part two.
The Time 100: Most Influential People of 2019.
Hong Kong Protestors Win TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year Reader Poll.
Ranker's Most Influential People in 2019. Based on internet votes.
Time's 25 Most Influential People on the Internet.
The Root 100. Our annual list of the most influential African Americans.
Heroes: CNN honors 10 men and women for making the world a better place.
The 25 Richest People in the World 2019.
The Most Inspiring Women of 2019 According, Naturally, to Jezebel.
The many tech CEO fails of 2019.
The Hottest Men Of 2019, Ranked. Based on internet votes.
The Year in Stupidity.
All The Relationships That Bit The Dust In 2019.
The Most Beautiful Celebrity Weddings Of 2019.
People we lost in 2019.
Remembering the Stars We Lost in 2019.
The Trans Obituaries Project: Honoring the Trans Women of Color Lost in 2019.
Where Aren't They Now? 25 Overlooked Deaths Of 2019. Part one and part two.
See all the year-end lists here.
Blood, Thunder, & WTM
I am honored to present an exclusive feature article by a guest blogger! WTM is an amateur historian and an old
internet friend, who wishes to remain otherwise anonymous. You can
read more of his stories at Neatorama.
My long-overdue pilgrimage to Ground Zero of Sword-and-Sorcery Fantasy Fiction
While in junior high (middle) school in 1967, I first saw paperback books of some fantasy hero named Conan, by one Robert E. Howard (REH), with cover illustrations by Frank Frazetta. The example below is from REH’s novella The Scarlet Citadel.
Reading a few of the Conan books that were available at the time, the first including The Scarlet Citadel with the ‘grabber’ cover as seen in Image 2, I was astonished at the content – extreme bloody violence, with ‘spicy’ scenes interspersed throughout. But these weren’t just lurid words haphazardly thrown together to titillate – there were actual plots and the writing and character development were superb. I had never before seen anything like this sword-and-sorcery, aka blood-and-thunder, aka heroic fantasy (used mostly herein) genre before and of course wanted to read more. What teenaged boy wouldn’t? But that would have to wait for some time.
Beginning in 1975, when I graduated college, I began seriously reading REH’s works, along with those of H.P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Robeson, and other of the ‘pulp’ authors of the 1930’s. I was interested, and not a little surprised, to learn that author Robert Ervin Howard was also a Texan, and had held court in Cross Plains, a small town in west central Texas, during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. He was also a fellow history buff and had once possessed about 300 reference books on world histories.
I’ve lived in Texas since 1960 and have come to appreciate the 500+ years of Texas history that are documented. Historical events like the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, and historical places like the Alamo have always fascinated me and I have visited the locations of these and other events and places of historical interest up close and personal whenever possible. I’m also a sucker for roadside historical markers, of which Texas has an enormous number. So REH’s stock went up a great deal when I discovered that many of his works such as Shadow of the Vulture were also historically accurate. I simply had to know more about this man.
Twenty years before the Internet, one had to buy printed media to learn about REH and the book I found most informative was The Last Celt by Glenn Lord, who was also executor of the REH estate in the 1970’s. I found the book fascinating, especially the images of REH taken at the family home in Cross Plains. There was also a photo of the Howards’ home itself, dated 1969, and it was evident that it had been severely neglected for quite some time. Image 3 is a photo of the rear view (south side) of the former Howard home, probably taken at least 50 years ago. The room seen in the center is the sleeping porch, used by both Robert and his father, Isaac, during warm weather. Robert’s own room was to the right of the sleeping porch, largely obscured by the overgrown foliage at the corner on the east side. The neglect of house and property is quite evident, but the house had never been vacant for extended periods between 1940 and 1973. We can thank a series of irresponsible owners for all that.
My father came from a small town (Mineola) in northeast Texas, far removed from Cross Plains, and I marveled that such a talented and prolific author as REH could thrive in such an environment, as living conditions in Mineola were still somewhat primitive in the early 1960’s. In Depression-era rural Texas, libraries were few and far between, and I was amazed that REH could produce such varied, detailed, and engrossing works of heroic fantasy, humor, horror, boxing, and historically accurate fiction. How could he possibly have done all this, in such an isolated rural setting, during the Great Depression, and by age 30 at that? I would have to see for myself.
My long-overdue pilgrimage to Ground Zero of Sword-and-Sorcery Fantasy Fiction
Image 1 – Robert E. Howard circa 1934
While in junior high (middle) school in 1967, I first saw paperback books of some fantasy hero named Conan, by one Robert E. Howard (REH), with cover illustrations by Frank Frazetta. The example below is from REH’s novella The Scarlet Citadel.
Image 2 – Frank Frazetta Conan Cover Artwork
Reading a few of the Conan books that were available at the time, the first including The Scarlet Citadel with the ‘grabber’ cover as seen in Image 2, I was astonished at the content – extreme bloody violence, with ‘spicy’ scenes interspersed throughout. But these weren’t just lurid words haphazardly thrown together to titillate – there were actual plots and the writing and character development were superb. I had never before seen anything like this sword-and-sorcery, aka blood-and-thunder, aka heroic fantasy (used mostly herein) genre before and of course wanted to read more. What teenaged boy wouldn’t? But that would have to wait for some time.
Beginning in 1975, when I graduated college, I began seriously reading REH’s works, along with those of H.P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Robeson, and other of the ‘pulp’ authors of the 1930’s. I was interested, and not a little surprised, to learn that author Robert Ervin Howard was also a Texan, and had held court in Cross Plains, a small town in west central Texas, during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. He was also a fellow history buff and had once possessed about 300 reference books on world histories.
I’ve lived in Texas since 1960 and have come to appreciate the 500+ years of Texas history that are documented. Historical events like the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, and historical places like the Alamo have always fascinated me and I have visited the locations of these and other events and places of historical interest up close and personal whenever possible. I’m also a sucker for roadside historical markers, of which Texas has an enormous number. So REH’s stock went up a great deal when I discovered that many of his works such as Shadow of the Vulture were also historically accurate. I simply had to know more about this man.
Twenty years before the Internet, one had to buy printed media to learn about REH and the book I found most informative was The Last Celt by Glenn Lord, who was also executor of the REH estate in the 1970’s. I found the book fascinating, especially the images of REH taken at the family home in Cross Plains. There was also a photo of the Howards’ home itself, dated 1969, and it was evident that it had been severely neglected for quite some time. Image 3 is a photo of the rear view (south side) of the former Howard home, probably taken at least 50 years ago. The room seen in the center is the sleeping porch, used by both Robert and his father, Isaac, during warm weather. Robert’s own room was to the right of the sleeping porch, largely obscured by the overgrown foliage at the corner on the east side. The neglect of house and property is quite evident, but the house had never been vacant for extended periods between 1940 and 1973. We can thank a series of irresponsible owners for all that.
My father came from a small town (Mineola) in northeast Texas, far removed from Cross Plains, and I marveled that such a talented and prolific author as REH could thrive in such an environment, as living conditions in Mineola were still somewhat primitive in the early 1960’s. In Depression-era rural Texas, libraries were few and far between, and I was amazed that REH could produce such varied, detailed, and engrossing works of heroic fantasy, humor, horror, boxing, and historically accurate fiction. How could he possibly have done all this, in such an isolated rural setting, during the Great Depression, and by age 30 at that? I would have to see for myself.
Imperial March/Carol of the Bells Mashup
YouTuber AtinPiano performs a mashup that you would have never considered on your own, but the truth is that the Imperial March from Star Wars blends gracefully with "Carol of the Bells." Bonus points for wearing stormtrooper armor while playing it. The visuals are interesting, too!
Tweet of the Day
Well there's something you don't see every day! Thanks to Neil D. Marriott for sharing this video of a school bus sliding sideways "downhill" on Eden Prairie Road near Highway 5. | https://t.co/VqSViIxQIJ pic.twitter.com/1khKPV1UV4— WCCO - CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) December 28, 2019
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Year-end Lists 2019: Sports
Sports Illustrated's 2019 Sportsperson of the Year: Megan Rapinoe.
The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 2019 is Simone Biles.
Clippers' Kawhi Leonard Wins 2019 AP Male Athlete of the Year.
Seven Turning Points from the Year in Sports.
A year's worth of sports trivia: 2019 in review.
Sports Illustrated's Best Photos of 2019.
Sports Moments 2019: From Triple-Doubles to Teammates Colliding.
The biggest sports controversies of 2019.
The NFL's 10 Biggest Business of Football Stories in 2019.
The 10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2019
See all the year-end lists here.
Skywatch: Ambitious Sci-Fi Short
Two young guys hack into a drone delivery service by changing recipient's orders. What could possibly go wrong? Um, plenty. However, like Alive in Joberg or Kenobi, this sequence leaves us wanting more, and we hope the story can be expanded on at some point.
Colin Levy wrote and directed the Hollywood-quality short Skywatch using a combination of hard work, crowdfunding, modern technology, and serendipity. In a behind-the-scenes video, Levy explained how he got Jude Law to appear in his film.
Year-end Lists 2019: Tech & Games
The 14 charts that explain tech in 2019.
Cybertrucks and Folding Phones: 2019’s Worst Tech Ideas.
The best iPhone and Android apps of 2019.
2019 is the year the world turned on big tech.
Polygon's 50 best games of 2019.
Kotaku's Top Games of the Year, from Paul Tamayo, Luke Plunkett, and Heather Alexandra.
2019's Most Relaxing Games (And Most Stressful Ones).
The Biggest Video Game Disappointments Of 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
Year-end Lists 2019: TV
IMDb's Top 10 TV Shows of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Television Shows Of 2019.
The Daily Beast's 20 Best TV Shows of 2019.
The Top 10 TV Shows Of 2019, According To Everyone.
The Ringer's Best TV Episodes of 2019.
The Very Specific TV Awards For 2019.
10 entertainment moments in 2019 that were too much to handle.
The 10 best Netflix series of 2019.
25 of the most memorable late night moments of 2019.
The 20 Funniest Performances of 2019.
Here Are 35 Of The Biggest TV Character Deaths From 2019.
The 11 Best (and 6 Worst) TV Shows of 2019.
io9's 14 Best (and 5 Worst) Television Moments of 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
Digit Buddies
Remember the Digit robot who delivers packages to your door? Agility Robotics has developed a newer version of the same robot that will work as a team with each other. Watch them hand off and stack boxes together. The payoff comes at the end, when they celebrate a job well done with a little happy dance. (via Laughing Squid)
Tweet of the Day
If you haven’t seen this video of a French dad who asked his dad to buy his son Minecraft for Christmas you’re about to witness a colossal misunderstanding pic.twitter.com/CdGnWc0oGP— Ash Warner (@AlsBoy) December 27, 2019
(Thanks, Brother Bill!)
Friday, December 27, 2019
Year-end Lists 2019: Science
Breakthrough of the Year
The Top 10 Websites for Science in 2019.
The big science and environment stories of 2019.
Here’s What 2019 Scientific Discovery Taught Us About Our Human Origins.
The 10 Biggest Archaeology Discoveries of 2019.
Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019.
Science News’ favorite fossils of 2019.
The Smithsonian’s Ten Splashiest New Acquisitions of 2019.
Science Magazine's Favorite Science Photos of 2019.
A disturbing tally of the heat records that broke in 2019.
2019 Was a Horror-Show Year for Weather.
The Worst Environmental Rollbacks of 2019.
The Biggest Environmental Wins of 2019.
The most amazing medical breakthroughs of 2019.
What we learned from the space station in 2019.
The Biggest Junk Science of 2019.
Top 10 Junk Science and Bogus Health Claims Debunked in 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
The Top 10 Websites for Science in 2019.
The big science and environment stories of 2019.
Here’s What 2019 Scientific Discovery Taught Us About Our Human Origins.
The 10 Biggest Archaeology Discoveries of 2019.
Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019.
Science News’ favorite fossils of 2019.
The Smithsonian’s Ten Splashiest New Acquisitions of 2019.
Science Magazine's Favorite Science Photos of 2019.
A disturbing tally of the heat records that broke in 2019.
2019 Was a Horror-Show Year for Weather.
The Worst Environmental Rollbacks of 2019.
The Biggest Environmental Wins of 2019.
The most amazing medical breakthroughs of 2019.
What we learned from the space station in 2019.
The Biggest Junk Science of 2019.
Top 10 Junk Science and Bogus Health Claims Debunked in 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
Receipt
I think this might be the name of a drink, because the real cost of eternal damnation is way more than $1.99. It's hard to imagine a fancy drink that cheap, either. (via Cake Wrecks)
Year-end Lists 2019: Movies
The annual Sleepy Skunk movie trailer mashup is here! Clips from boatloads of movies from 2019 have been artfully edited for maximum impact. It starts out lively, kinetic, and goofy, then slides into an epic action section, followed by a tense and dramatic emotional section. If any of these clips pique your curiosity about a movie you haven't yet seen, there's a timeline listing them here.
IMDb's Top Ten Movies of the Year.
Rotten Tomatoes' Top 100 Movies of 2019.
John Waters' Favorite Films of 2019.
The Top 10 Movies Of 2019, According To Everyone.
The Ringer's 35 Best Movie Performances of 2019.
The Best Horror Movies of 2019.
The 9 Most Overlooked Movies of 2019.
The Pop Culture Highlights and Lowlights of 2019.
The 30 Most Stunning Movie Posters of 2019.
There Have Been 20 Box Office Flops Of 2019 — How Many Have You Seen?
Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 10 Worst Films of 2019.
Moving Pictures 2019
As he has in years past, Clark Zhu has taken the biggest movies of the year and compiled them into an emotional three-minute video. Relive the memories of 2019, at least those memories made in a theater. You'll find a list of the movies used, with timestamps, at Zhou's website. He hints that this will be his last year-end compilation.
See all the year-end lists here.
Tweet of the Day
A F F I R M A T I V E pic.twitter.com/BsMaieBElm— Memes 🐸🔌 (@supplierofmemes) December 21, 2019
(via Digg)
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Year-end Lists 2019: Music
DJ Earworm brings us his annual United States of Pop mashup of the songs of the year. These are all from 2019. There's a track list at the YouTube page.
Pitchfork's 100 Best Songs of 2019.
Rolling Stone's 50 Best Songs of 2019.
Polygon's Best Songs of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Songs Of 2019.
Esquire's Best Songs of 2019.
TikTok’s 20 most popular songs of 2019.
The Top 10 Songs Of 2019, According To Everyone.
The 10 best K-pop songs of 2019.
The 10 Best R&B Songs of 2019.
The Highest Rated Albums of 2019.
Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2019.
Pitchfork's 50 Best Albums of 2019.
Stereogum's 50 Best Albums Of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Albums Of 2019.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Albums of 2019.
The Top 10 Albums Of 2019, According To Everyone.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Hip-Hop Albums Of 2019.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Metal Albums of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Pop Albums Of 2019.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Jazz Albums of 2019.
Vulture's Best Music Videos of 2019.
Rolling Stone's Best Music Videos of 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
Pitchfork's 100 Best Songs of 2019.
Rolling Stone's 50 Best Songs of 2019.
Polygon's Best Songs of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Songs Of 2019.
Esquire's Best Songs of 2019.
TikTok’s 20 most popular songs of 2019.
The Top 10 Songs Of 2019, According To Everyone.
The 10 best K-pop songs of 2019.
The 10 Best R&B Songs of 2019.
The Highest Rated Albums of 2019.
Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2019.
Pitchfork's 50 Best Albums of 2019.
Stereogum's 50 Best Albums Of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Albums Of 2019.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Albums of 2019.
The Top 10 Albums Of 2019, According To Everyone.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Hip-Hop Albums Of 2019.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Metal Albums of 2019.
Uproxx's Best Pop Albums Of 2019.
Bandcamp Daily's Best Jazz Albums of 2019.
Vulture's Best Music Videos of 2019.
Rolling Stone's Best Music Videos of 2019.
See all the year-end lists here.
Policy
I dunno, it usually only takes about ten years to see the effects of education policy, and about five to seven years for economic policy to show changes. Still, the general public expects immediate results, and judges accordingly. This comic is from Zack Weinersmith as Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
Year-end Lists 2019: Books
It's time once again for my annual series of posts bringing you the lists that sum up the year just past. From now until New year's Day, I'll take a look back at 2019 for different subjects about once every 12 hours or so. We'll start with books.
The Library Journal selects the best books of 2019 in many categories.
Amazon's Best Books of 2019.
The Best Books Of 2019, According To Everyone.
Smithsonian Scholars Pick Their Favorite Books of 2019.
Boing Boing's 28 favorite books in 2019.
Jason Kottke's Best Books of 2019.
The New York Public Library's 10 Most Checked-Out Books of 2019.
io9's Favorite Comics of 2019.
The 10 Best Comedy Books of 2019.
31 Of The Best Young Adult Books From 2019.
Time's 10 Best Fiction Books of 2019.
The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2019.
The Ten Best History Books of 2019.
The Ten Best Books About Food of 2019.
The Ten Best Children’s Books of 2019.
The Best books of 2019 to teach kids about identity and acceptance.
The Ten Best Science Books of 2019.
The Guardian's best science, nature and ideas books of 2019.
The Best Baking Cookbooks of 2019. From the New York Times.
The Best Overlooked Books of 2019.
The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2019.
The Most Surprising Books of 2019
See all the year-end lists here.
Miss Cellania'a Links
My semester with the snowflakes. A 52-year-old Navy veteran enrolled at Yale.
Brother Bill shot a deer in his yard.
The Rise of Skywalker made Kylo Ren the most exhausting man in the galaxy. Contains spoilers.
Mental health professionals read Trump's letter: A study in "the psychotic mind" at work.
Catch and Caught...NOT the Same Thing...
Scientists Share Their Wildest Experiences in the Field.
A Gorilla Born With A Lack Of Pigmentation On Her Fingers Surprises People.
Which Direction is This Guy Swinging?
A blast from the past (2014): 9 Incredible Stories of Lost and Found Cats.
My Stick
The folks at Bad Lip Reading brought us a nonsensical singing Yoda in the video SEAGULLS! (Stop It Now) more than three years ago. It's taken them this long to dare to give Yoda the mic again, and while this song is just as nonsensical, it's quite different. The video is edited from one short scene in The Last Jedi, and the song is completely original. It also has a secret weapon- a cameo appearance by Baby Yoda!
Tweet of the Day
your elf on the shelf was delicious pic.twitter.com/5aLyYmhvru— anton lestrange (@huge_mclarge) December 21, 2019
(via Everlasting Blort)
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