I'm not sure whether it makes sense to generalize on the basis of this one example, but going by this there was not any thought in 1862 of shaping your own future in the sense of making New Year's resolutions - you just got what the world threw at you.
"The evening which of all others is the most adapted for witchery, is New Year's eve. It is a very ill practice to spend this evening at a ball, and it is an acknowledged fact that ill luck, more or less, follows a person throughout the year, who has danced the old year out and the new year in. You should spend New Year's eve with a small circle of near and dear friends, around a punch-bowl, while you seek to inquire what the future has in store for you. In the first place this may be done with melted lead or wax... Take a good-sized piece of lead or wax, (the former is better,) place it in a melting ladle, and dissolve it over the coals, or over a spirit-lamp, into which you have poured a little alcohol. You must then take a vessel full of water, (a bowl is best, that is not too deep nor too shallow,) and pour into it the lead or wax, and from the various figures which it forms in the water you endeavor to tell your fortunes."
Felix Fontaine, The Golden Wheel Dream-Book and Fortune Teller
Forget the dancing: your best bet for a safe and merry New Year's eve involves molten lead and witchery. No instructions are provided for interpreting the lead forms, so I'll predict in advance that your 2014 will be kind of formless and globular.
Ask The Past (via their blog): "If anyone does what many do on the first day of January, that is to say, goes around in the costume of a stag or a calf (which still remains from pagan custom), he must do penance for three years, because this is demoniacal."
The great 29th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast (wiki) is widely credited with having created the look of Santa Claus as we know him today. Inspired by Clement Moore’s* description of the “jolly old elf” in his 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, aka The Night Before Christmas, Nast first depicted Santa in the January 3, 1863, issue of Harper’s Weekly.
On the cover was a scene captioned “Santa Claus in Camp” in which Saint Nick brings toys and good cheer to Union soldiers. It seems that Santa, much like Nast himself who was a staunch Republican and abolitionist, had picked a side in the Civil War, and he wasn’t at all subtle about it.
Santa’s blue (of course) coat has white stars on it and his pants have red and white stripes, similar to garb donned by other patriotic icons drawn by Nast like Columbia and Uncle Sam. He has delivered parcels to the soldiers. One finds a sock inside, doubtless a welcome gift in the bleak midwinter after the devastating loss at Fredericksburg which saw more than 12,000 of his comrades killed, wounded or taken captive. A drummer boy in the foreground stares with wide-eyed surprise at the jack-in-the-box that leapt out of his present.
But it’s the toy Santa is holding that is most remarkable. Here’s Harper’s explanation of it:
Santa Claus is entertaining the soldiers by showing them Jeff Davis’ future. He is tying a cord pretty tightly round his neck, and Jeff seems to be kicking very much at such a fate.
Read the whole rather fascinating post at The History Blog, including this:
After the war, Nast continued to draw Santa Claus for seasonal issues of the magazine. It was Thomas Nast who introduced the idea that Santa Claus has a toy workshop in the North Pole, although in his vision Santa did all his own labour.
From 1865, a less bloodthirsty version of Santa appeared:
By Christmas of 1865, Santa’s wartime support of the Union had softened from stringing up effigy Jefferson Davis with his own hands to presiding over a Christmas pageant starring Ulysses S. Grant as the giant killer from Jack and the Beanstalk. Sure, the decapitated heads of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood and Richard Ewell are at Grant’s feet, but it’s just metaphoric playacting and anyway Santa’s involvement is restricted to a wink and an avuncular smile, possibly a touch on the gloating side.
Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2016, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
Elf (2003) Christmas Evil (1980) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) Santa’s Slay (2005) Arthur Christmas (2011) Fred Claus (2007) Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984) Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) Trading Places (1983) Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964) Black Christmas (1974) Bad Santa (2003) A Christmas Story (1983) Scrooged (1988) A Christmas Horror Story (2015) Rise Of The Guardians (2012) Santa With Muscles (1996) Miracle On 34th Street (1947) Fred Claus (2007) Elf (2003) Jingle All The Way (1996) Fred Claus (2007) The Santa Clause (1994) Miracle On 34th Street (1947) Trading Places (1983) Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) Miracle On 34th Street (1994) The Santa Clause (1994) A Muppets Christmas: Letters To Santa (2009) Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011) Elf (2003) The Polar Express (2004) The Santa Clause (1994)
Today only, Amazon offers a selection of last-minute gifts, with prices starting from $5, all of which qualify for free 1-day shipping. (Select 1-day shipping at checkout.)
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include downloadable Star Wars snowflakes, all about the winter equinox, Roman maps of how the world looked when Jesus was born, the classic drunken fruitcake recipe (Check the whiskey. Pour 1 level cup and drink. Repeat.), the 1914 Christmas truce, and a flamethrower doing battle with a fire-hose.
ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include lots of ugly Christmas sweaters (plus instructions for making your own), a Klingon Christmas Carol, why Japan is obsessed with Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas, poinsettia and mistletoe (which literally means "dung twig") science, and my personal favorite Christmas story: 'Twas the Overnight Before Christmas: The Merry Tale of How Air Cargo Deregulation Led To Amazon.
FELIXSTOWE, England, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A British grandmother locked in a public restroom for four days said she kept warm using a hand dryer and passed the time by knitting a scarf.
Gladys Phillips, 82, said she was out shopping in Felixstowe, England, when she made a pit stop in a public restroom that she didn't realize was not yet open to the public.
The hi-tech locking system shut tight and it was not until four days later that painters discovered her inside. She had no mobile phone and her bangs and shouts were unanswered – so she settled down and made a pink scarf for her granddaughter to keep boredom at bay.
"I was not really concerned at first when I couldn't get out," Phillips told the Suffolk Gazette.
"In fact I was just relieved I'd managed to go to the loo! Luckily I had just been to the shops and picked up a new ball of pink wool, so I began making a scarf, which one of my lucky grandchildren will now get for Christmas.
I had also popped into the sweet shop after collecting my pension, so I had a full bag of mint imperials to eat which kept my spirits up no end.
The loo was very clean and cozy. I was able to sleep on my big overcoat and was lovely and warm, and if I got cold I just sat under the hand dryer for a while."
I actually know someone who likes fruitcake, but for most people it makes an excellent gag gift; the obvious advantage is that it can be re-gifted for years.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups dried fruit
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup nuts
1 gallon whiskey
1. Take a large bowl.
2. Check the whiskey to be sure that it is of the highest quality. Pour 1 level cup and drink. Repeat.
3. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat butter in large bowl.
4. Add sugar and beat again.
5. Check the whiskey again. Cry another tup. Or two.
6. Turn off the mixer. Break 2 legs and add to the bowl, along with the dried fruit.
7. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters, pry it loose with a drewscriver.
8. Sample the whiskey again to check for consisticity.
9. Sift the salt. Or something. Who cares.
10. Check the whiskey again.
11. Sift the lemon juice and strain the nuts. Add one tablespoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever.
12. Grease the oven.
13. Set the cake pan to 350 degrees.
14. Beat off the turner.
15. Throw the bowl out the window and finish what’s left of the whiskey.
But you have to feel a bit sorry for O'Hanlon, because almost every year after that, until she died in 1971, reporters sought her out to do follow-ups to find out if she still believed in Santa Claus. It must have been frustrating to be asked the same question, year after year.
O'Hanlon was always very gracious about the repetitive questioning, (seems like she was a very nice lady), and would say that of course she believed in Santa Claus — except for 1935 when she must have been in a dark mood, because in that year she came close to saying that she no longer believed. She told a reporter:
I still keep my faith in the ultimate kindness of human nature, but how can I, or anyone, believe in the Santa I knew as a child when today there is so much misery and suffering in the world?
If Santa lives today, he lives only in the childish joy of those he has made happy. How can he live in the crying hearts of those he has forsaken? Little children, such as I was, trust in Santa Claus as a miraculous munificence through which all things are made possible. There will be a tree, there will be loved ones about, gaiety and cherished toys that have been dreamt about for months.
Those whom Santa visits think of Christmas as a beautiful, sacred occasion which it should be — but today seldom is. But for every child tucked into bed Christmas night with his new toy, there are hundreds, no thousands, who huddle in ragged bed clothing sobbing in the night at a fate at best cruel.
ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include some extremely awkward Christmas photos, epic movie/TV-inspired gingerbread houses the pre-Seinfeld origins of Festivus, and strange hybrid animals.
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include a bunch of weird nativity sets, comparing Spider-Man and Santa Claus, the real history of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ (it started with a 1939 Montgomery Ward marketing campaign), how cats use their whiskers to catch their prey, and the 1981 proposal to: keep the nuclear launch codes in an innocent volunteer's chest-cavity.
ICYMI, last Monday's links are here, and include the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor (and Monty Python's reenactment), what Christmas meant to the Nazis, the politics of beards, most popular dog names of 2015, and the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra (aka Santa Claus).
Read the whole thing at NRO, about the not-particularly bright bureaucrats who arbitrarily stick names on the no-fly list. Excerpts:
But sorting out the criminals and malefactors from the law-abiding and peaceable is very difficult and demanding work, which is why we pay the ladies and gentlemen in our law-enforcement and intelligence agencies so much to do it. (Two hundred grand a year goes a long way in Philadelphia.) Conservatives are naturally inclined to indulge the police, but the fact is that the run of them are specimens of what you get when you take the same lazy unionized public-teat-suckling lumps over at the DMV and put guns on their hips and tell them that they are “at war” with the people they serve. Our intelligence guys aren’t in the main Blackford Oakes or James Bond: They’re drones compiling Excel reports until their pensions kick in.
And this:
On the matter of ordinary workaday murders of the South Chicago and North Philadelphia type, it cannot be repeated enough that the majority of the killers — 90 percent in New York City according to a New York Times review of the data — have prior criminal histories, often for violent crime, frequently involving weapons offenses. Chicago, among other cities, does basically nothing to prosecute crimes involving the illegal possession of guns. For all the clucking about straw-purchasers — phony buyers who help criminals avoid background checks when acquiring guns — the U.S. attorney’s office for blood-soaked Chicago won’t even bother with those cases as a matter of policy. Why? Too much work, not enough juice. Nobody’s career gets made by putting some South Side gangster’s mom in the pokey for making a straw purchase of a Glock for her beloved son.
The Democrats and their intellectually corrupt apologists at the New York Times and elsewhere are willing to strip Americans of their constitutional rights, to micturate from a great height upon the entire concept of due process, and to treat all of us like criminals — while doing precisely nothing to prevent school shootings, terrorism, or ordinary crime — because they don’t have the guts to tell their political clients in the schools, the mental-health bureaucracies, and the criminal-justice system that eventually they are going to have to do their goddamned jobs in exchange for the hundreds of billions of dollars we lavish upon them.
Conclusion:
It is time for Americans to grow up and to sober up. It may push your soy-latte buttons every time Bubba down in Muleshoe, Texas, buys a scary-looking black gun and declares war upon a row of defenseless Budweiser cans, but inconveniencing Bubba isn’t going to get the job done. Laziness, stupidity, corruption: The U.S. government exists for the sole purpose of protecting the rights of U.S. citizens, but somehow the fine minds at the New York Times conclude that the federal government should do more to burden the citizens to whom it owes every duty than, say, so-called refugees from Syria to whom the U.S. government has no duty whatsoever. Why? Because the alternative is expecting the employees of our federal, state, and local governments to do their duties, and that is just too much work.
We are living now, not in the delicious intoxication induced by the early successes of science, but in a rather grisly morning after when it has become apparent that what triumphant science has done hitherto is to improve the means for achieving unimproved or actually deteriorated ends.
... a point well demonstrated in the checkered career of one man:
Gaseous nitrogen combines with gaseous hydrogen in simple quantitative proportions to produce gaseous ammonia.
~ Fritz Haber (wiki) (attributed; a vast simplification of the Haber process for fixing nitrogen)
The field of scientific abstraction encompasses independent kingdoms of ideas and of experiments, and within these, rulers whose fame outlasts the centuries. But they are not the only kings in science. He also is a king who guides the spirit of his contemporaries by knowledge and creative work, by teaching and research in the field of applied science, and who conquers for science provinces which have only been raided by craftsmen.
~ Haber (memorial remarks on his mentor, Professor Georg Lunge, in January 1923)
The effects of the successful gas attack were horrible. I am not pleased with the idea of poisoning men. Of course the entire world will rage about it first and then imitate us. All the dead lie on their backs with clenched fists; the whole field is yellow.
~ Rudolph Binding (1867-1938) (on the first German gas attack, April 1915, in A Fatalist at War, 1915)
War and its horrors, and yet I sing and whistle...
~ Confederate General George E. Pickett (1825-1875) (letter to his wife, May 1864)
Today is the anniversary of the birth of German physical chemist Fritz Haber (wiki) (1868-1934), who received the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1918 for his role in inventing the Haber-Bosch process for "fixing" nitrogen on an industrial scale, thus permitting mass production of synthetic fertilizers and high explosives.* Born to a well-to-do Jewish family in Breslau, Prussia, Haber studied chemistry at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, eventually receiving a doctorate in 1891.
Unable to find a comfortable working relationship with his father in the latter's Breslau chemical plant, Haber accepted successive academic positions in the universities of Jena and Karlsruhe and developed his nitrogen-fixing process at the latter between 1894 and 1911, while also working on electrochemistry, combustion reactions, and the separation of gold from seawater. When World War I broke out, Haber's process was key to Germany's ability to produce both fertilizer and high-explosives despite her inability to import nitrates because of the British blockade. Moreover, as a militant German imperialist who strongly supported the war effort, Haber played a major role in the development of chemical warfare by the Germans in World War I and was primarily responsible - as an army officer - for the weaponization of chlorine gas and its first devastating deployment against Canadian troops in the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.**
He was also active in developing gas masks, studying the physiological effects of poison gas, and is still recognized by many as "the father of chemical warfare.*** Between the wars, Haber continued secret work for Germany on poison gas weapons, but with the coming to power of the Nazis in 1933, his Jewish ancestry told against him (despite an earlier conversion to Lutheranism), and he removed himself to Switzerland, where he died in 1934, a strange, enigmatic man... In his The Void of War, 1918, English writer Reginald Farrer (1880-1920) noted,
"Even in theory, the gas mask is a dreadful thing. It stands for one's first flash of insight into man's measureless malignity against man."
* N.B. Although atmospheric nitrogen is plentiful, it is relatively inert and difficult to coax into forming compounds. The Haber-Bosch process converts atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia by a reaction with hydrogen using a metal catalyst and high temperatures and pressures. The ammonia is used in turn for manufacturing synthetic fertilizers or to produce the nitric acid needed for explosives. Thus, the Haber-Bosch process is one of the most important - and beneficial - industrial procedures ever devised.
** A detailed account of Haber's role in the first deployment of poison gas at 2nd Ypres is provided by Diana Preston in her recent book, A Higher Form of Killing, which treats "the six weeks in World War I that forever changed the nature of warfare." (Preston also treats the sinking of the Lusitania and the first Zeppelin bombing raids on London, all in April/May 1915.)
*** Haber's first wife, who was strongly opposed to his work on chemical weapons, committed suicide within two weeks of their first use at 2nd Ypres. His award of the Nobel prize was bitterly opposed by the Allied nations.
What an extraordinarily mixed legacy - more here on the benefits to the world of the ability to fertilize crops with artificially produced ammonia. SciShow has an excellent brief video on Haber's inventions, good and bad:
Unsurprisingly, after a few minutes of this the French soldiers fled their trenches in terror. Harold Peat, a Canadian private in reserve in the eastern part of the salient, witnessed the first moments of this new horror in war:
In the far distance we saw a cloud rise as though from the earth. It was a greeny-red color, and increased in volume as it rolled forward. It was like a mist rising, and yet it hugged the ground, rose five or six feet, and penetrated to every crevice and dip in the ground. We could not tell what it was. Suddenly from out the mist we men in reserves saw movement. Coming towards us, running as though Hell as it really was had been let loose behind them, were the black troops from Northern Africa. Poor devils, I do not blame them. It was enough to make any man run.
Another Canadian soldier in the front line, Reginald Grant, painted a similar picture:
The line trembled from one end to the other, as the Algerian troops immediately on our left, jumped out of their trenches, falling as they ran. The whole thing seemed absolutely incomprehensible until I got a whiff of the gas. They ran like men possessed, gasping, choking, blinded and dropping with suffocation. They could hardly be blamed... The buttons on our uniforms were tinged yellow and green from the gas, so virulent was the poison.
Gassed, a relatively little-known painting by famed American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), better known for his exquisite portraiture. Now in the Imperial War Museum, London, it makes a harrowing impression full size:
Based on Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. Leave your email address in the comments if you'd like to be added to his list.
ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include the end of prohibition in the US, the world's most expensive cars, an emergency enema kit (the defibrillator of the 18th century) and more dubious medical treatments, DIY candles, and concrete ships.
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include Winston Churchill's birthday, a gallery of 1960's big hair, dancing orcs, and some truly upsetting vintage recipes.
ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include Thanksgiving, the mean drunk gene, the giant claw machine that dredges bicycles from Amsterdam canals, and the post-Thanksgiving Peanutsholiday special It's Black Friday, Charlie Brown.
A round-up of Thanksgiving links: how turkey got its name, why the Lions and Cowboys always play, Ben Franklin's account of the first Thanksgiving, Buffy Thanksgiving episode (ritual sacrifice, with pie), and more.
ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include the royalties for Mein Kampf, original names of cartoon characters, videos to entertain your cats and dogs when they're home alone, and a zoo that housed wolves and three species of bears together.
Carhenge is located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska, on the High Plains region of the United States. It consist of 39 vintage American cars arranged in a circle and partially buried to keep them upright. Arches were created by welding more cars atop the erect ones. The entire structure is spray painted with a shade of gray to mimic the color of stone. The idea was conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father.
Foamhenge is a full size replica built of Styrofoam and locatred in the town of Natural Bridge, in Virginia, USA. Its creator, Mark Cline, took great pains to shape each 'stone' to its original shape, fact-checking his designs and measurements with the man who gives tours of Stonehenge in England. Each block is set into a hole in the ground, reinforced by a steel pipe that goes through the block. The pipe is anchored to the ground with cement. Each stone is placed in astronomically correct position.
Fridgehenge was a Stonehenge replica built of refrigerators. Fridgehenge stood outside Santa Fe, New Mexico for almost a decade, but following complaints from neighbors, it was dismantled in 2007. Another Fridgehenge was built in the UK in 2014, and yet another one earlier this year.
The man who brought you the famous vaginal beauty contest in order to create his baffling three-orifice sex toy hasn't forgotten about you, gents. This time around, he's encouraging the men of the world to nominate their balls via photo submissions on his site, where users can rank which pair reigns supreme. But it's not just for street cred: the first place winner will collect $5,000, the second place $3,000, and the third $2,000.
If you win, your naughty bits will then be 3D-scanned and their likeness forever immortalized in novelty items like doorstops and paper weights.
In an upcoming segment of “60 Minutes,” Metropolitan Police Chief Police Chief Cathy Lanier says it’s unrealistic to think police will make it to an active shooter situation in time to save lives, so victims will have to prepare to “run, hide or fight.”
“If you’re in a position to try and take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there,” she tells Anderson Cooper for the segment, which will air Sunday at 7 p.m. on CBS.
Lanier said this is radically different from what police have often told people. But after a series of tragic domestic attacks – including the 2013 murders at the D.C. Navy Yard — it is clear that merely calling 911 and waiting for a response isn’t enough.
“The fact is most active shooter kill their victims in less than 10 minutes,” she said. “It’s a different scenario.”
ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include President James Garfield's birthday (when he was shot, Alexander Graham Bell showed up with a metal detector to try to locate the bullet), the Gettysburg Address and a Pennsylvania newspaper's retraction for an 1863 article calling Gettysburg Address "silly remarks", a woman who won the right to wear a spaghetti strainer on her head for her driver's licence photo, history of people mailing themselves in boxes, a defenestration supercut, and a father who borrowed a Go-Pro, held it backwards and recorded his entire vacation as one long selfie.
There are lots of cat and dog videos around, but generally they're made for humans to watch. These purport to entertain your animals - I don't personally find them all that fascinating, but per youtube comments on Paul Dinning's channel, lots of dogs and cats do. I guess if you leave your pets home alone it would be nice to leave the TV on for them.
Over the past 6 years, Paul Dinning has created a YouTube channel packed with over 400 videos featuring the wildlife of Cornwall, England. And, from that footage, he has cobbled together playlists designed to delight all cats and dogs with access to the internet. And, apparently cats and dogs are watching.
Here's Squirrel and Bird Fun:
And The Ultimate Videos of Birds for Cats To Watch:
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include a 1968 memo to Gene Roddenberry about William Shatner's disappearing wigs from the Star Trek set (plus a Monty Python/Star Trek mashup), photos of the Rolling Stones as kids, and a boat trip through the Paris Sewer.
Wizard of Oz The Matrix A Nightmare on Elm Street Halloween 2 Alien Die Hard Minority Report Who Framed Roger Rabbit Superman The Bourne Ultimatum Beverly Hills Cop Spawn
0:30-1:03
Transformers Bridget Jones Diary The Towering Inferno Fright Night Last Action Hero Robocop X-Men 3 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Friday 13th Part 4 The Toxic Avenger Popeye Help! Undercover Brother Batman Lethal Weapon Terminator 2 Wanted A Nightmare on Elm Street Robocop (0:56 - 1:03)
1:03-1:33
Scream Silent Night: Deadly Night Top Secret! Terminator The Dark Knight Transformers 3 The Mummy Returns The Dark Knight Looper Terminator Texas Chainsaw Massacre Ajeossi (The Man form Nowhere) Robocop 2 Police Story (1:21 - 1:33)
1:33-2:00
Friday 13th Part 4 Men in Black Friday 13th part 2 Wanted The Long Kiss Goodbye Airplane! Help! Terminator 2 Die Another Day Total Recall Watchmen Blade Runner
2:00-2:24
Collateral The Exorcist Loaded Weapon Mission Impossible Friday 13th part 4 The Great Muppet Caper Resident Evil: Resurrection Terminator 2 The Fly Scott Pilgrim vs The World
According to cops, Luper and Michael Vaccaro--who were married for 12 years--drove together to retrieve some of his belongings from their storage unit in Bradenton.
While parked in the rear of the facility, “Luper got undressed, and asked Vaccaro if he wanted to have sexual intercourse,” police reported. “Vaccaro agreed, and told Luper to lay down.”
But Luper, a court filing notes, “did not want to have sexual intercourse in that position and stated no.” It is unclear where the pair was planning to tryst, or the position that was rejected by Luper
During a subsequent argument, Luper allegedly struck Vaccaro in the head with a thrown object. As Vaccaro sought to remove some of his belongings from the car’s rear seat, Luper allegedly accelerated the auto “with Vaccaro still half way inside the vehicle.” As Vaccaro “pulled out of the vehicle,” Luper drove over his right foot.
ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include lots of paraskavedekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th) information, living next door to Area 51, an 133 MPH lawnmower, the physics of TIE fighter formations, and the (unfortunately defunct) 1950s U.S. Army program that put price tags on equipment.
