Willliam Kogut, 1894- 1930 Death by playing cards. Sentenced to die for the stabbing death of his landlady, Mayme Guthrie.  It is unknown just why he killed her, although there is speculation that he thought she was an immoral woman and thus deserved to die.  There is all kinds of stuff out on the net about this and even the dates vary from site to site.  However, the most consistent date for Kogut's spectacular suicide is given as October 20, 1930, and that is the one that Find A Grave lists.  Clinton Duffy, Warden of San Quentin, in his book "88 Men and Two Women", relates that because it was so cold that the men on death row had small oil heaters in their cells.  Kogut wrenched a leg off his bed, stuffed the hollow pipe with soaked, mashed up playing cards, and laid the device on his heater with his head next to it.  Most reports say that he used only the red pieces of the deck as those were dyed with nitrocellulose, and he may have.  However, the entir

Novgorod.      In 1868 the Scottish shipbuilder John Elder floated an idea that a circular hull would need less armor and use less draft, perfectly true.  The Russian Rear-Admiral Andrei Alexandrovich Popov needed cruisers to protect Russia's vulnerable rivers from an enemy Black Sea fleet.  Russia was restricted by the Treaty of Paris to only a token naval force on the Black Sea, following the Crimean War debacle.  Experiments with a 24 foot diameter model worked well enough that construction on Novgorod commenced, with her going operational in 1874.  Armed with two 11" guns, that took over 10 minutes to reload, two were built.  These ships were a waste of money and time.  While there are many untruths about them, the basic flaw is the design is impossible to move efficiently through a fluid.  These were just floating gun platforms. Kalinin K-7 The 53,000 lb (empty) heavy bomber with a wingspan of 173' 11", did fly but had resonance problems.  I

Delium, 424 BC.  I am reeling sick these last two days and cannot tonight go into this but Athens attacked Thebes and got their ass handed to them.  They were winning when their wings collided and started attacking each other.  The Thebans were regarded as very tough as they were farmers who did not depend on slave labor.   It was the Theban general Epaminondas who crushed Sparta at Luectra.  Here we see a disarmed Theban hoplite dealing with an Athenian Bunny most decisively.  This battle is best known for the one that Socrates made his way off the field, by grabbing a companion and making it clear that he was not to be fucked with.   There is a reason for wearing uniforms.

RMS Lusitania Laid down in 1907, Lusitania was the fastest passenger liner afloat.  Her speed was thought to protect her from U-boats.  But there was a problem.  Capable of running at 25 knots (29 miles per hour) her captain was under orders to conserve coal so on her last crossing she ran at 21 knots. Lusitania arrives in New York on her maiden voyage. September 13, 1907.  She has just taken the Blue Riband, the award for fastest transatlantic crossing. Captain Daniel Dow. The penultimate captain of the this mighty liner, Captain Dow, went to the Cunard board and told them he could no longer take the responsibility of shepherding so many lives through the U-boat cordon.  He was relieved and slandered, with Cunard noting that  he was "tired and really ill". He was replaced by Captain William Thomas Turner, a man of unreproachable ability and reputation.  Winston Churchill blamed him for the disaster knowing full w

     This aggressive Puma was shot Dec. 30 near Preston, Idaho.  This condition is either a absorbed twin that did not develop or a teratoma tumor, which causes extra body parts to grow.      This appears to me to be a very young lion.  I feel sorry for him. Cougars are very beautiful, but dangerous. I love cats.  But I don't want this thing around at all.  My cat Mingo has the same expression on his face all the time but he is cute because I am so much bigger and stronger.

I loved these movies before I had any concept of what it took to make these. You were told not to take a thing, Hercules.  Talos, Jason and the Agonauts. This scene terrified me as a child and is still stunningly powerful. This famous scene took 4 months to animate and it is on screen for less than 3 minutes.  Note that each shield has a different monster depicted.  Jason and the Argonauts.  The mind blowing Ymir, 20 Million Miles To Earth.  As a kid I would practice the way this thing moves. I never felt good about this. These have become a real problem.  It's a global warming thing. Livingstone and the Lion, Blantyre, Scotland. Statue  designed and funded by Harryhausen.  His wife, Diana, is Livingstone's great-grandaughter. You measurably increased my world. Salud!