Ty Cobb Not a Notorious Racist?

A new biography makes the case that Cobb was libelled by a previous biographer, Al Stump.

And a review of the new biography by The Boston Globe can be found here.

The new biography is Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty.

It's Not Dead...

...it's just resting.




I'm not feeling particularly motivated these days. Other than sharing crap on Facebook and the odd reply on Twitter, I'm withdrawing into myself even more than usual. Nothing I really want to talk about, but I wanted to note the lack of postings.

I may post occasionally again or even cheer up and start posting daily again. Then again, maybe not. Expect me when you see me, as Gandalf said.

This Could Cause Carpal Tunnel

Worked on a belt today. I've made belts before with limited tooling, but this was the first time I did all the tooling - - started with a leather strip, ended with a finished belt. It still needs a little keeper loop, I'll pick one of those up on Friday.

They Don't Seem Very High...

...but they're high enough to be lethal to the unwary.

KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. – A woman was died in a fall from Crowders Mountain on Saturday afternoon.

Rescuers said she fell about 150 feet from the King's Pinnacle Trail near the Gaston/Cleveland County line.

They haven't released details about what happened, but say she may have been taking pictures.

The park's superintendent said this is the first accident he can recall from that part of the trail.


I've hiked that particular trail when I was younger, and can vouch that it's certainly high enough at 150 feet (that's 15 stories up) to be lethal. That's the very summit of King's Pinnacle. Still, it's the first time I've ever heard of anyone falling from that particular mountain; most fatalities at Crowder's Mountain state park take place on Crowder's itself, where the rock climbing occurs. It's a beautiful place for a day hike, and I'd be tempted myself to camp at the summit of King's Pinnacle if it was a cool autumn evening.

The Wonder of the Internet

I purchased another antique belt buckle off of eBay:

Photos taken after polishing, by the way. The buckle still had its original varnish coat, and had a patina underneath. The markings on the back of the buckle intrigued me: a central star, with the name "Laurie" on one side and an obliterated area on the other, where a name or word had been removed with a grinder. Aha, a mystery, I though to myself. I pictured a cute blonde hippie chick named "Laurie" who had carved the wax model of the belt buckle.

I looked on the internet, and found that the cute blonde hippie chick was actually a man still alive, and his company was the Star Buckle Company of Spinnerstown, Pennsylvania. Apparently Mr. Laurie started his business with a buckle in the shape of a peace symbol, and it took off from there. He does other stuff now, of course, since hippie belt buckles had a limited popularity and eventually went out of fashion.

Still... to be able to dig out this information with just a few clicks on a keyboard... amazing. It would have taken a major investment in time and money to research this in pre-computer days.

Don't ever say we aren't living in the future.

Well, I Didn't See a Sign

There's adult humans in this country that are so ill-bred that they think nothing of entering a hotel dining room barefoot during breakfast and, when told that shoes are required, declare "Well, I didn't see a sign."

Subway Worker In Mississippi Fired For Praising Murder of MS Cops - - Got 'Er!

She went on Facebook to gloat over the murder of two Hattiesburg, MS cops, posing in her Subway uniform.

Twitter and Facebook outrage ensued, and she is no longer employed. Which is a mixed bag of good and bad. Good, in that she has now been punished for her stupidity, and bad because she made herself unemployable to a large segment of the population, and is more likely to suck on taxpayer-funded benefits as a result.

(according to comments on Facebook about the story, the two Laurel, MS Subway locations are feeding first responders (cops and fire) free this week to atone for the worker's stupidity.)

One Lousy Bar? Arrrr.

Barry Clifford finds a bit of Captain Kidd's treasure:

Archaeologists in Madagascar believe they have discovered treasure belonging to the ruthless Scottish pirate William Kidd.

Divers brought a 50kg silver bar to the shore and soldiers have been guarding the suspected treasure at Sainte Marie Island, the BBC reports.

The silver bar was discovered just off the coast in shallow water by a team led by under water explorer Barry Clifford.

Not that a 50kg silver bar is anything to sneeze at, but it's just a fraction of the treasure haul that Kidd reputedly collected. This bar is probably one that was accidentally dropped overboard while transferring it from one ship to another.

Headline of the Day

"Cambrian penis worm had throat full of teeth."

Penis. Worm.

That White Boy Crazy

"More Details Released in Court on Teen Shooting Police Officer."

Ferrell had been getting ready for prom on Saturday when he and his brother-in-law got into a big argument which led to police being called.

When officers responded to the scene, Ferrell came out of his bedroom wearing a bulletproof vest and holding a shotgun, according to Bruce Lillie, Mecklenburg prosecutor.

Ferrell then shot the gun at Police Lt. James Quattlebaum, Lillie said. Quattlebaum was shot in the stomach.

Lillie believes the attack was deliberate and that Ferrell poses a danger to both himself and other people, he said, asking for bond of $2 million for the teen.

Ferrell also showed lack of any remorse for his crime, according to Lillie, who said the teen was singing “I shot the sheriff” while in custody.

And his mama bought him a ballistic vest so he could use it as a Halloween costume. Ain't he the entitled little boy?

Show & Tell, Tomahawk Edition

Apparently today is Show Off Your Tomahawk Day, or at least Old NFO got the ball rolling by showing off his, and a couple of others have joined in as well. Here's mine, a Cold Steel Trail Hawk with the factory paint removed, along with a Becker Knife and Tool BK-5 made by Ka-Bar, likewise with paint removed:

One of the commenters over at Old NFO's place mentioned the Cold Steel Spetsnaz shovel, I'd like to pick up one of those, the commenter was spot-on in his reasoning, that a shovel is easier to justify to police and judges than even a tomahawk is.

Yard Improvement

When we first moved to the rental property we are in now, the yard was in bad shape. None of the previous tenants had cared for the yard, and a small piece along the driveway was actually becoming an erosion gully. After a couple of years of living here, we're starting to see improvement; here are the before and after photos:

I'm fairly pleased.