History History

Life After Death: Finding Out Who Is Inside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

tomb of the unknown soldierThe Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is both a moving tribute to those who have died in American wars and a reminder of how war steals human dignity. An unidentified soldier from each of the major American conflicts of the 20th century have been laid to rest in the monument at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Represented are World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

The remains of the Vietnam War veteran were placed in the Tomb on Memorial Day 1984 in a ceremony attended by President Reagan, who awarded the unidentified soldier a posthumous Medal of Honor. But CBS News reporter Vince Gonzalez thought it would be more honorable to find out the unknown soldier’s identity of the latest unknown.

Political Carnival: “Crackstarter” Raising Funds to Buy Video of Toronto Mayor Allegedly Smoking Crack

This is crazy!

Backstory: New York-based gossip website Gawker says it was approached by someone trying to sell a video of Toronto mayor Rob Ford apparently smoking crack cocaine in a glass pipe. Gawker editor John Cook says he’s seen the video (two reporters from the Toronto Star say they have, too) – but the person who has it wants money for it. A LOT of money.

Gawker has published a photo they say is a screengrab from the video:

 

That’s all crazy enough on it’s own – but here’s where it goes into overdrive: Cook has started an IndieGoGo fundraiser he’s titled “Rob Ford Crackstarter” (a takeoff of fundraising site KickStarter), saying:

Titanic II: Oceanic Boogaloo

TitanicAll aboard? Back in February, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer held a press conference to announce his plans to build a duplicate of the Titanic—arguably the most famous ocean-liner in history. The original Titanic, billed as “unsinkable,” hit an iceberg in 1912 and sank. Palmer is calling his ship, of course, Titanic II.

Think that might be a bad idea? Of course you do. And you’re not alone. While Palmer promises that Titanic II will have a stronger, more iceberg-proof hull (and way more lifeboats), critics say that the new ship makes a mockery of the hundreds of passengers who died on the original Titanic. Descendants of survivors of the disaster are even passing around a petition to block the construction of Titanic II.

Photo Sunday: Arlington Row, Bibury

So awesome. (Click on the pic for a very big version, and go here for a really big one.)

Caption: “Arlington Row, Bibury, built in 1380 as a monastic wool store. The buildings were converted into weaver cottages in the 17th century.”

Just beautiful. Makes us want to put on a pair of fuzzy slippers, sit next to a toasty fire, and sip a stout or three!

• Many more pics here.

• ChillOutSpots.com on Arlington Row. (And just because it’s bugging us – they’ve got a typo! “Dinning” for “dining”! AHHHK!)

Oh—that made us read closer:

Free National Park Week, 2013

An Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader PSA: Every National Park in the U.S. has free admission this coming week!

From our National Park Service:

Did you know that National Park Week is April 20-28, 2013?

Did you know that there are 401 national parks? That they include seashores, battlefields, historic homes, archeological sites, and spectacular natural areas?

Did you know there is at least one national park in every state? …

You can plan your visit by what you want to do, or where you want to go … or you can browse our event calendar and check out the special programs offered that week. Also, from Monday through Friday, April 22 to 26, every national park will have free admission!

Free admission—that’s a big savings if you go to a park with your family or a group of friends, just to note.

And if you need a bit of a guidebook—we have a whole book on National Parks! (No way! What a coincidence!)

Some of the scintillating subjects you’ll find in this volume:

Did You Have a Nice Pranksgiving (April Fools)?

April Fools’ Day 2013 will go down in history as one that was particularly saturated with public pranks. Among our favorites:
april fools• Outdoor supply company REI announced that it would be selling “Adventure Kitten Gear”. Among the items: a “Wild Cat” backpack that held “100 cubic inches of kibble and catnip,” and an $11 bandana that “doesn’t do anything, but looks cute in photos.”
• The British car show Top Gear announced it was filming in the Netherlands, and that in order to set a new land speed record, a busy 20-mile stretch of highway outside of Amsterdam would have to be closed. Citizens grumbled about the delays and rerouting…until it was revealed that there was no show. It was all a prank from a mischievous Dutch police officer.

RIP Roger Ebert

Aw, rotten news:

Roger Ebert, the popular film critic and television co-host who along with his fellow reviewer and sometime sparring partner Gene Siskel could lift or sink the fortunes of a movie with their trademark thumbs up or thumbs down, died on Thursday in Chicago. He was 70.

His death was announced by The Chicago Sun-Times, where he had worked for many years.

Mr. Ebert’s struggle with cancer, starting in 2002, gave him an altogether different public image — as someone who refused to surrender to illness. Though he had operations for cancer of the thyroid, salivary glands and chin, lost his ability to eat, drink and speak (a prosthesis partly obscured the loss of much of his chin, and he was fed through a tube) and became a gaunter version of his once-portly self, he continued to write reviews and commentary and published a cookbook he had started, on meals that could be made with a rice cooker.

Much more at the paper he wrote for for decades, The Chicago Sun-Times.

And he had a very funny and wise FaceBook presence, and the same on Twitter – where he was posting up until very recently.

Oh – just saw this: just two days ago Ebert announced that his cancer had returned – and that he was taking a “A Leave of Presence“:

Stall of Fame: Abandoned London Public Toilet Turned Into Coffee Shop

So awesome:

On Foley and Great Titchfield Streets in London, there was an underground public men’s restroom built in the 1890′s accessible via its own caged entrance in the middle of the sidewalk. There were quite a few of these facilities built at the time which were used until the 1960′s, when they were locked up and left in disuse for the next 50 years.

A few years ago, the city sold off these odd spaces to various enterprises. In the case of the underground toilet on Foley Street, some restaurateurs took it over and have turned the abandoned urban outhouse into a remarkably pleasant little espresso cafe.

It’s called “The Attendant.” Just another public toilet turned into coffee shop. Here are some pics. The first one we snagged from Google Street View. It’s the green cage on the sidewalk! (And never mind that Google Street View thinks that parking sign in the coffee shop.)

public toilet turned into coffee shop

Habemus Papam! (That’s Latin for “We have a Pope!”)

This week 76-year-old Argentinean Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on the fifth papal conclave vote. Fun fact: Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is the first pontiff from Latin America. To mark the occasion, here are a few more bits of pope-culture.

Pope vote: The vote usually doesn’t take long. Over the past century, the conclave has never lasted more than five days. Longest on record: 33 months, spanning 1268 to 1271. An angry mob got so fed up with the indecision that they literally tore the roof off the building the college of cardinals was staying in and limited their meals to bread and water to inspire them to pick up the pace. (They picked Pope Gregory X, who reigned for four years.

The Great Hollywood Toilet Boycott

Celebrities: they’re just like us…except that they don’t use toilets.Matt Damon Toilet Boycott The great toilet boycott has started.

At least some of them. Movie star Matt Damon, who does a lot of humanitarian work on the side, co-founded Water.org, an organization devoted to bring clean water to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who lack sanitation, including 800 million who don’t have access to clean drinking water.

To promote his cause, last month Damon publicly announced that he would refuse to use a toilet until everyone in the world enjoys the same water privileges as first world nations.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the Bravest Man in the World

Ranulph FiennesSo you’ve probably never heard of Ranulph Fiennes. No, he’s not the father of actor Ralph Fiennes (they’re actually third cousins). All you need to know about him is that he’s one of the most fearless—and curious—people on Earth. It’s even official. In the 1980s, Guinness World Records named the British writer/adventurer/knight/politician “The World’s Greatest Living Explorer” by the Guinness Book of World Records. Now nearly 70, Fiennes continues to embark on incredibly dangerous expeditions. His many adventures could easily fill a dozen biographies, but here are a choice few.

Happy Canada Day!

Hey BRI fans in the Lower 48 – if you love the dirt, leaves, air, water, food, beer, animals (people included!), and all the other little things that make up the great nation of Canada – from the “trees on rocks” in Newfoundland to the trees and trees and trees and fog on the British Columbian coast – and everything in between (and up Nunavut, too) – stand up, face yourself North, and proudly proclaim it: “Happy Canada Day, Canada! Here’s to you, dang it!”

P.S. To BRI fans in Alaska, Hawaii, territories and such, and in every other country in the world, please adjust the direction in “face yourself north” as necessary.

And everybody sang…

RIP, Ray Bradbury: A Personal Tribute

Science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury died yesterday, as you no doubt heard. We didn’t post anything here – we were waiting for permission to repost something we saw on FaceBook – as good a tribute to the great Mr. Bradbury as we saw anywhere.

Our sincere thanks to Tom Payne in California for allowing us to share this with our readers.

Hanukkah Lamps Selected By Maurice Sendak

Happy Hanukkah! The eight-day Jewish holiday also known as the “Festival of Lights,” which honors the redidication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century CE, begins today. (If you’re unfamiliar with the details of the origin of this holiday—that’s what jewfaq.org is for.)

To commemorate the holiday this year, the Jewish Museum in New York City has a display entitled “An Artist Remembers: Hanukkah Lamps Selected by Maurice Sendak.”

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