Peace Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9ymhfB5nys

Now I’ve been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be
Something good has begun
Oh, I’ve been smiling lately
Dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be
Someday it’s going to come

‘Cause I’m on the edge of darkness
There ride the Peace Train
Oh, Peace Train take this country
Come take me home again

Now I’ve been smiling lately,
Thinkin’ about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
Something good has begun

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now Peace Train
Yes, Peace Train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the Peace Train
Come on now, Peace Train

Get your bags together,
Go bring your good friends, too
‘Cause it’s getting nearer,
It soon will be with you

Now come and join the living,
It’s not so far from you
And it’s getting nearer,
Soon it will all be true

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now Peace Train
Peace Train

Now I’ve been crying lately,
Thinkin’ about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating,
Why can’t we live in bliss

‘Cause out on the edge of darkness,
There rides a Peace Train
Oh Peace Train take this country,
Come take me home again

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now, Peace Train
Yes, Peace Train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the Peace Train
Come on, come on, come on
Yes, come on, peace train
Yes, it’s the peace train

Come on now, peace train
Oh, peace train

Willie Nelson and his Adoration of Cannabis

Marijuana enthusiasts around the world have been shocked by the news that Willie Nelson no longer smokes cannabis. Cue the “Has hell frozen over?” jokes.

But the Grammy award-winning musician’s son, Lukas Nelson, has taken to social media to clear the air and provide a little cannabis clarity.

While the Country Music Hall of Famer recently told a local television station that he doesn’t smoke marijuana anymore for health reasons, his son clarified that he does still consume cannabis. Just not by smoking it.

On Tuesday, Lukas Nelson tweeted: “There is a lot of articles going around saying my father is no longer smoking weed. It’s almost 2020, how people ingest cannabis has changed.”

“Between vaping, edibles, gummies, drops, etc. I think it’s safe to say Willie will never stop enjoying Mary Jane!” he said.

The comment behind the cannabis controversy happened late last month, when the elder Nelson told local San Antonio news station KSAT that breathing “is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful” and that “I’ve abused my lungs quite a bit in the past” so he was putting down the joint.

Willie’s house a couple years ago

Mandarin Duck

The mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at 41–49 cm (16–19 in) long with a 65–75 cm (26–30 in) wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus Aix. Aix is an Ancient Greek word which was used by Aristotle to refer to an unknown diving bird, and galericulata is the Latin for a wig, derived from galerum, a cap or bonnet.

The species was once widespread in East Asia, but large-scale exports and the destruction of its forest habitat have reduced populations in eastern Russia and in China to below 1,000 pairs in each country; Japan, however, is thought to still hold some 5,000 pairs. The Asian populations are migratory, overwintering in lowland eastern China and southern Japan.

Specimens frequently escape from collections, and in the 20th century, a large, feral population was established in Great Britain; more recently, small numbers have bred in Ireland, concentrated in the parks of Dublin. Now, about 7,000 are in Britain with other populations on the European continent, the largest of which is in the region of Berlin. Isolated populations exist in the United States. The town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, has a limited population, and a free-flying feral population of several hundred mandarins exist in Sonoma County, California. This population is the result of several ducks escaping from captivity, then reproducing in the wild. In 2018, a single bird, dubbed Mandarin Patinkin, was seen in New York City’s Central Park.

Male left and female

The First Ever Miss Universe Contest, 1952

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Armi Kuusela from Finland was the first winner of the event. She was 17 at the time. She was awarded a box of chocolates, a gold bangle and a return ticket on Pan American Airways.

 

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The contest was held on 28 June 1952 in Long Beach, California, USA.

 

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Miss United Kingdom, Aileen P. Chase, who was a runner up in Miss World the previous year didn’t even make it into the semi finals.

 

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Miss Hawaii, Miss Greece, Miss Hong Kong and Miss Germany were all runners up.

 

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Rare and Unique Historical Photos

 

rare 1913 gettysburg

Union and Confederate Veterans in 1913. 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

 

rare 1956 queen and marilyn 30 years old

Queen Elizabeth and Marilyn Monroe 1956.  They are both 30 years old.

 

rare 1963 16 year old arnie

Arnie in 1963 when he was 16 years old.

 

rare 1970 soldier passes out

1970 Queen Elizabeth rides by a guard who passed out. Embarrassing.

 

rare abe and general george mcclellan

Abe Lincoln and General George McClellan during the Civil War.

 

rare atari space invaders championship 1980

Atari Space Invaders tournament in 1980.

 

rare b-25 sinks jap destroyer

B-25 bomber sinks a Japanese destroyer in WW II.

 

rare clinton lewinsky 1995

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky 1995. Chemistry is bubbling with lust.

 

rare dr no 1962

Sean Connery signing a coconut on the set of Dr. No 1962.

 

rare einstein's desk 1955 after he died

Albert Einstein’s desk right after he died in 1955.

 

rare FIlming the MGM lion

Filming the MGM Lion 1920’s.

 

rare gadget first atomic bomb

World’s first atomic bomb named ‘Gadget’.

 

rare Germans testing a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E3, 1940

German Messerschmitt BF 109 E3 testing 1940.

 

rare robin williams 1974

1974 a photographer took a photo of two mimes in Central Park, one turned out to be Robin Williams.

 

rare gustav railgun 1942 hitler

1942 Hitler watches testing of the monstrous Gustav rail gun.

 

rare hw bush 1991 texas rangers

George H. W. Bush throwing out the first pitch at a Texas Rangers game 1991. Sort of a girly looking throw.

 

rare june 17 1991 Mt. pinutubo pyroclastic flow

June 17, 1991 guy in truck is scrambling to outrun pyroclastic volcanic flow from Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines. No word on whether he made it or not. Update, he did make it.

 

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World War II British soldiers wearing gas masks while peeling onions.

 

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Hoover Dam before it was flooded 1936.

 

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Crowd at original Woodstock gig 1969.

Amazing Geological Formations Near The Four Corners States

The Four Corners is a region of the United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area is named after the quadripoint where the boundaries of the four states meet, where the Four Corners Monument is located. It is the only location in the United States where four states meet.

 

 

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The Four Corners is part of the high Colorado Plateau. This makes it a center for weather systems, which stabilize on the plateau then proceed eastward through Colorado and into the central states. This weather system creates snow and rain fall over the central United States.

Protected areas in the Four Corners area include Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, and Monument Valley. Mountain Ranges in the Four Corners include Sleeping Ute Mountains, Abajo Mountains, and the Chuska Mountains. The Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon Dam/Lake Powell are nearby.

 

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Another very strange geological formation is the Bisti Badlands in northwest New Mexico.  This is an Alien landscape that science fiction writers could not have thought up.

The Bisti Badlands, also called Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, is a vast rolling landscape of phantasmagoric formations of earth and stone located in northwestern New Mexico’s high desert lands. Wind and water erosion over a long time have carved a fantasy world of strange rock formations and hoodoos here in the form of pinnacles, spires, mushrooms and other unusual forms that have attracted names such as “Cracked Eggs”, “Bisti Wings” and “Rock Garden”.

Bisti is derived from the Navajo word “Bistahi” which means “among the adobe formations.” De-Na-Zin takes its name from another Navajo word for “cranes.” This little visited and largely unknown area was once an ancient riverine delta on the shores of an ancient sea, 70 million years ago. As the water slowly receded, a lush foliage grew along the many riverbanks and many prehistoric animals roamed the region. When the water disappeared totally, it left behind layers of jumbled sandstone, mudstone, shale and coal. Much of the coal burned away in ancient fires that lasted centuries. Erosion then shaped the characteristic features of the modern landscape of the Bisti Wilderness. Six thousand years ago, when the last ice age receded, the waters of the melting glaciers helped expose fossils and petrified wood, as well as eroding the rock into the hoodoos now visible.

 

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Mainly three kinds of formations are exposed in Bisti Wilderness area — the Ojo Alamo Formation, which has left bare the thick deposit of volcanic ash from an ancient eruption, and below that the Fruitland formation and the Kirtland Shale.

The Ojo Alamo Formation spans the Mesozoic/Cenozoic boundary, and mostly contain dinosaur fossils. The Fruitland Formation contains layers of sandstone, shale, and coal, and was laid down when the conditions were marshy, warm and humid, with poor drainage. The Fruitland Formation is found primarily on the western side of the Wilderness. The Kirtland Shale is the product of alluvial muds and overbank sand deposits from the many channels draining the coastal plain in the late Cretaceous period. It overlies the Fruitland Formation, and is exposed on the eastern side of the badlands. Many of the gray hoodoos in the wilderness are made up of this formation.

The unique egg-shaped formation, in the “egg factory” area, are also the result of erosion. The cracks are the result of differential weathering, while the speckled appearance due to mineral deposits in the stream that cut through the sedimentary rock.

 

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Hoodoos in the Bisti Badlands, Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico.

 

Clingstone: The ultimate get-away-from-it-all high end cottage

 

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Clingstone is a house built in 1905, perched atop a small, rocky island in an island group called “The Dumplings” in Narragansett Bay, near Jamestown, Rhode Island.

Architecture

The dwelling, designed by Philadelphia socialite J. S. Lovering Wharton and artist William Trost Richards, is a three-story 23-room 10,000-square-foot shingle-style cottage. The structural system of heavy mill-type framing was designed to withstand hurricane force winds. The name “Clingstone” was suggested by a remark that it was “a peach of a house”. In August 2010 the interior was documented in a series of panoramic photographs.

Film director Wes Anderson modeled the house from Moonrise Kingdom after Clingstone, specifically the interior shingles.

Owners

The original owner, relative of industrialist Joseph Wharton, built the house in response to the government condemning his earlier summer home in order to build Fort Wetherill. Wharton summered there until his death in the 1930s. Heavily damaged by a hurricane in 1938, the residence was vacant from the time of his wife’s death in 1941 until it was purchased in 1961 by Boston architect Henry Wood. Wood, a distant cousin of the Philadelphia Whartons, was able to purchase the property for $3,500, the amount owed in back taxes. The house is known by locals as “The House on a Rock”.

 

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The house is totally off the power grid. A windmill on the roof provides electricity, while photovoltaic cells charge a bank of batteries in the basement for additional power. Rainwater collected from the roof into a 3,000-gallon cistern provide water for washing and cleaning. Drinking water comes from a sea-water filtration system. Water is heated by solar panels. The house even has a composting toilet. The compost is then used to fertilize the garden.