Since Father’s Day is rapidly approaching, I thought it would be a good time to look at some options to make Dad a special cake for his special day.
Let’s begin with a super easy one first. This cake can be made with any flavor box mix baked in a 13 x 9 pan. When cooled, you simply frost with white frosting and add M&M’s to make the suspenders and the bow tie. (You can get fancy and make a regular tie as well.)
If that seems too easy and you’d like to try your hand at more involved decorating, I suggest the Beer Mug Cake. (There are 3-D versions of this cake that are very involved, so I suggest this flat version.) It merely requires any flavor cake baked in a 13 x 9 pan, cooled and then inverted onto a baking sheet. The corners are trimmed into a rounded mug shape and the frosting is piped on in long lines in gold. White frosting is then piped in swirls to mimic foam and a handle is fashioned from white fondant. (Roll the fondant into a rope and make an elongated “U”. Insert toothpicks into the 2 ends and attach to the side of the mug.
If you’re feeling even more daring, there’s always the Hamburger cake. This will require 2 cake mixes—one vanilla (for the bun) and one chocolate (for the hamburgers). The “cheese” in this hamburger is actually colored fondant. (If that sounds too involved or difficult, skip the cheese!) The sesame seeds on the top bun are mini white chocolate chips. The rest of the details, lettuce, ketchup, mustard are all tinted frostings.
If cupcakes are more your style, you can decorate them in numerous ways to honor the sports Dad loves: tennis, baseball, basketball, soccer, are all easy choices.
And while we’re discussing cupcakes, if Dad’s a beer lover, what better cake than one made of both cupcakes AND beer?
birthday cake, but you get the idea…
Lastly, might I recommend a real show stopper? The Bacon cake! A vanilla layer cake, frosted with vanilla icing infused with maple flavoring and surrounded by…BACON!
Flying has captured the human imagination for centuries. Whenever there is an issue regarding a flight of any kind, it grabs our attention. A plane crash, mechanical issues, airport power outages, storms, even fights among passengers make headlines. Yet, what if someone stole a small aircraft, took off without control tower clearance, then landed it on a busy Manhattan street, got out and went into a bar to have a drink?
In today’s era of fear, the pilot would be arrested as a terrorist. Imagine an aviator pulling this stunt in 1956, during the height of the Cold War and drunk. This is the story of one such aviator. When the Second World War began, pilots and mechanics became an essential part of both the Axis and Allied war efforts. Wars provided men and women with opportunities to learn all about flying.
Thomas Fitzpatrick was one such boy. He grew up in Washington Heights and was born on April 24, 1930. Tommy lied about his age and enlisted into the Marine Corps and fought in the Pacific during the Second World War. When the war ended he was honorably discharged and returned home.
Then, in 1949, he joined the US Army and fought in the Korean War. Corporal Fitzpatrick received the Silver Star and Purple Heart after he was “seriously wounded” and attempted to rescue fellow soldiers “despite severe pain and loss of blood.” Again he was honorably discharged and returned home from war. Tommy Fitz, as he was called, became a steamfitter in his civilian life. The work required long hours working in the hot and cramped underbelly of New York buildings.
On the side he was a part-time airplane mechanic at the Tetterboro School of Aeronautics in New Jersey. He was also learning how to fly and logging in hours for his pilot’s license. By the age of 26, Tommy Fitz was a veteran of two wars, was a union steamfitter, and was involved in the fast-growing aviation industry.
In typical fashion, Tommy and his fellow blue collar workers in the construction trades ended their days by visiting a local tavern. The handwork and long hours involved with being steamfitter required some time to unwind before heading home to engage in domestic duties. Joe’s Bar on 191st Street was a frequent hangout for Tommy Fitz and his coworkers.
One night a debate raged among the bar’s patrons. Was it possible to fly from New Jersey to Washington Heights in 15 minutes? Full of the drink, Tommy accepted the challenge and left the bar. He headed across the Hudson River to Teeterboro Airport.
On Saturday night, September 29, 1956, Thomas Fitzpatrick arrived at Teeterboro, selected a small red and white Cessna 140, and began his flight. He flew the plane over Washington Heights and landed it near Joe’s Bar on St. Nicholas Avenue near 191st street. The drunk pilot was able to maneuver the plane’s 32 foot wing span and land it safely on the roadway lined on either side by buildings. He then taxied the plane up to Joe’s Bar, shut off the engine, and went inside for a celebratory beer just before the 3 am last call.
A plane landing on a Manhattan street at 3 am garnered the attention of the local police. The police arrived at Joe’s Bar where Fitz told them that he had suffered “unexpected engine trouble” and was forced to land. He admitted to borrowing the plane because, while drinking, he suddenly had “an urge to fly.” After the police aviation department examined the plane, they determined that there was no engine trouble and Tommy Fitz was simply flying drunk. He was arrested and the plane was dismantled and moved to a nearby police station.
A judge set Tommy’s bail at $5,000 and charged him with grand larceny, which was a felony, as well as violating the city’s municipal code that forbid landing airplanes on any streets in New York City. The judge stated that “many terrible things could have happened” and he did not want Tommy Fitz to perform such a stunt again. Eventually, the grand larceny charge was dropped when the owner of the plane refused to sign a complaint.
Some in the police department were in awe of Tommy’s drunken accomplishment. One sergeant in the Police Aviation Bureau proclaimed that flying a plane drunk and managing to land it safely between New York buildings was a “100,000 to one shot” and a “feat of aeronautics.” Eventually, Tommy was found guilty and fined $100. His pilot’s license was suspended for six months. After his late-night flight, Tommy Fitz claimed he had no desire to fly again and never renewed his license.
Deja Vu
Thomas Fitzpatrick got married in June 1958. He and his bride, Helen, settled in New Jersey while Tommy continued to work as a steamfitter. After visiting his old stomping grounds on October 4, 1958, Tommy Fitz went into a bar for a drink. As the drinks flowed the stories grew.
When one bar patron told another that Tommy Fitz had landed an airplane on St. Nicholas Avenue and 181st Street they simply did not believe it. Tommy Fitz got up from his barstool, left the bar, drove to Teterboro Airport, and selected a plane. At 12:20 am, the control tower at Teterboro Airport watched Fitz take off in a Cessna 120 without proper clearance, radio contact, or navigation lights.
Just after 12:35 am, a bus driver at Amsterdam Avenue and 191st Street saw a plane in the rear mirrors coming in for a landing. According to the bus driver, the plane landed next to the bus, bouncing 20 feet up upon contact with the ground and then bounced again and “taxied down to 187th Street.” The bus driver, Harvey Roffe, fled from his bus and ran down to 187th street to see the plane. By the time that he arrived, the pilot was gone. Another witness to the plane’s landing told police that he saw a man who was “tall, blond, and husky wearing a gray suit” fleeing from the plane.
Once again the borrowed plane was in fine working order. It even had 3/4 full tank of fuel! As the police began to draw parallels to the plane landing event from two years earlier, Tommy Fitzpatrick became a person of interest. Upon his first round of questioning, he denied everything.
When a witness identified Fitzpatrick as the man who fled the plane and the police told him that his finger prints were all over the plane, he admitted to borrowing the plane and landing it on Amsterdam Avenue.
Thomas Fitzpatrick was again charged with grand larceny and violating the city’s codes of landing a plane on a New York City street. He was also charged with “dangerous and reckless operation of an aircraft.” Fitzpatrick was held on a $10,000 bond. On January 26, 1959, Thomas Fitzpatrick pled guilty for bringing stolen property into the state of New York.
The judge proclaimed that Fitzpatrick was most certainly drunk and flew the plane when “dared by a drinking companion.” Then the judge proclaimed that despite Thomas Fitzpatrick’s exemplary civil and military record and the completion of two “miraculous” landings, he was sentenced to six months in jail.
Upon his release from prison, Tommy Fitz returned to working as a union steamfitter. He and his wife, Helen, raised their three sons in Washington Township in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Tommy Fitz was an active member of his community belonging to a VFW Post, the Men’s Club at his church, along with other civic organizations. After a battle with cancer, Thomas Fitzpatrick died on September 14, 2009, just past the 53rd anniversary of his first plane landing on a New York City street.
A drink consisting of Kahlua, vodka, Chambord, blackberries, egg white, and simple syrup was named in Tommy Fitz’s honor and known as the “Late Night Flight.”
Assembled by Danny Beason of New Leaf, in the Manhattan neighborhood where Fitzpatrick landed his plane twice.
The idea here is to create a layered representation of NYC’s nighttime sky. Pour Kahlua into the base of a cocktail glass. In a separate mixing glass, muddle the blackberries, add Chambord and one ounce of vodka, and shake with ice. Strain carefully into a layer over the Kahlua.
In another mixing glass, shake egg white, syrup, and remaining half ounce of vodka — without ice — to create an emulsion. Layer this fluffy white foam on top – like the clouds through which Mr. Fitzpatrick piloted.
Sip and enjoy, preferably far from any enticing airfields.
He’s not the brightest bulb in the pack, but he’s not incompetent!
I do not believe Joe Biden is incompetent in the least. I think he is influence peddling as he’s done his entire political career. His physical and mental health may be declining, but Biden knows exactly what’s happening. He bargained away his presidency for a 6-figure salary, a lifetime pension, and extensive perks. The senile, old man routine is a cover –not just for Biden–but for the person BEHIND Biden pulling the strings.
I believe in the run up to the 2020 election, Democrat leadership was presented with a roster of unlikeable, obnoxious candidates.
UGH!
None of them were personable enough to capture a significant percentage of the population’s support. As we watched the prospects drop out one by one, deals were being made. I contend that Democrat leadership settled on the candidate they preferred for the president and vice president—Biden, who would be the most pliable once in office, and Harris who would check off the most boxes in the vice presidential position.
Dumb and Dumber
I believe after seeing the roster debate and falter in the polls, deals were struck…concessions were made. I believe that is what we are seeing play out on the national stage…the fruition of those deals. He is being instructed, not guided or advised, but told what to do. Biden is not enacting policies or pursuing goals of his own because he is incompetent and has no idea what he is doing. No, Biden is doing what he has always done when it comes to politics…selling out his position, his influence.
10% for the “big guy”…
For instance, when Senator Warren bowed out of the presidential race, she traded her campaign run for a college free-for-all and Biden is trying to find a way to accomplish that in repayment.
free college? so she can charge more than $450,000 per class?
Similarly, Harris, Warren, Booker, Gillibrand, Klobuchar and Sanders all supported the Green New Deal and lo and behold Biden is destroying our economy pushing those exact ideals—shutting down the Keystone Pipeline on his first day in office—trying to shift the economy from fossil fuels to renewables—damage be damned. Incompetence? Hardly. Biden is fulfilling his half of the deals that were made giving him the top Democrat spot. He is repaying the debts he incurred when the others abandoned their campaigns.
This is not to imply Biden is calling all the shots. He is BEING controlled. He sold his position out and is taking orders from Obama in my opinion (who is also being controlled).
smugness is ugly
But here’s the thing, making Biden SEEM incompetent is the goal in my opinion, because when the time is ripe, when there is an uprising against this administration, and it seems inevitable to me, the higher ups need a fall guy. And THAT’S the true position Biden bought. The higher ups may walk away scot free and leave Biden on his own to assume all the blame.
hmmmm…limberger
And this is where Biden displays sheer genius. Biden is playing up the role as an incompetent, feeble old man—banking on public sympathy when the inevitable happens—hoping for leniency. By portraying an aging, bumbling buffoon, he hopes to mitigate the inevitable consequences of selling out his country. It is not treason, it is stupidity. It is not deliberate, it is mental decline. In fact, it is the premise his entire administration is trying to project. But I don’t buy the act for a minute.
I concede there might be some manipulation of prescription medicines causing some of the gaffes—the blank stare—the interruption of thought processes, but that is a deliberate attempt to create the appearance of a senile old man. In reality, we have a cold hearted, calculating, sellout currently squatting in the White House. He is on a mission to fulfill Obama’s fundamental changing of the United States. He is not incompetent, he is diabolical.
Donald Trump, in full Donald John Trump, (born June 14, 1946, New York, New York, U.S.), 45th president of the United States (2017–21). Trump was a real-estate developer and businessman who owned, managed, or licensed his name to several hotels, casinos, golf courses, resorts, and residential properties in the New York City area and around the world. From the 1980s Trump also lent his name to scores of retail ventures—including branded lines of clothing, cologne, food, and furniture—and to Trump University, which offered seminars in real-estate education from 2005 to 2010. In the early 21st century his private conglomerate, the Trump Organization, comprised some 500 companies involved in a wide range of businesses, including hotels and resorts, residential properties, merchandise, and entertainment and television.
Manhattan
Trump was the fourth of five children of Frederick (Fred) Christ Trump, a successful real estate developer, and Mary MacLeod. Donald’s eldest sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, eventually served as a U.S. district court judge (1983–99) and later as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit until her retirement in 2011. His elder brother, Frederick, Jr. (Freddy), worked briefly for his father’s business before becoming an airline pilot in the 1960s. Freddy’s alcoholism led to his early death in 1981, at the age of 43.
Donald Trump attended New York Military Academy (1959–64), a private boarding school; Fordham University in the Bronx (1964–66); and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and Commerce (1966–68), where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in econmics. In 1968, during the Vietnam War , he was diagnosed with bone spurs, which qualified him for a medical exemption from the military draft (he had earlier received four draft deferments for education). Upon his graduation Trump began working full-time for his father’s business, helping to manage its holdings of rental housing, then estimated at between 10,000 and 22,000 units. In 1974 he became president of a conglomeration of Trump-owned corporations and partnerships, which he later named the Trump Organization.
In 1977 Trump married Ivana Zelníčková Winklmayr, a Czech model, with whom he had three children—Donald, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—before the couple divorced in 1992. Trump married the American actress Marla Maples after she gave birth to Trump’s fourth child, Tiffany, in 1993. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1999. In 2005 Trump married the Slovene model Melania Knauss, and their son, Barron, was born the following year. Melania Trump became only the second foreign-born first lady of the United States upon Trump’s inauguration as president in 2017.
First Lady Melania
The rest of the article from Britannica details lawsuits, impeachments and other “scandals” but it fails to depict the true nature of this man in my opinion. He loves God, his family and this country and is the embodiment of a true patriot. He is passionate and funny, brash and honest and the man I’d choose to have in my corner any day of the week!!
Tomorrow, June 14th, is Flag Day, so I thought we could all use a refresher on flag etiquette. I am bringing this info from military.com, an article dated June 11, 2020:
The U.S. Flag Code formalizes and unifies the traditional ways in which we give respect to the flag, also contains specific instructions on how the flag is not to be used.
The following is a list of do’s and don’ts associated with Old Glory, the U.S. Flag.
When displaying the flag, DO the following:
Display the U.S. flag from sunrise to sunset on buildings and stationary flagstaffs in the open. When a patriotic effect is desired the flag may be displayed 24-hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
When placed on a single staff or lanyard, place the U.S. Flag above all other flags.
When flags are displayed in a row, the U.S. flag goes to the observer’s left. Flags of other nations are flown at same height. State and local flags are traditionally flown lower.
When used during a marching ceremony or parade with other flags, the U.S. Flag will be to the observer’s left.
On special days, the flag may be flown at half-staff. On Memorial Day it is flown at half-staff until noon and then raised.
When flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. By “half-staff” is meant lowering the flag to one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff.
When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union (blue field of stars) to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
When placed on a podium the flag should be placed on the speaker’s right or the staging area. Other flags should be placed to the left.
When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall (or other flat surface), the union (blue field of stars) should be uppermost and to the flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left.
When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way — with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.
When the flag is displayed on a car, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
When saluting the flag DO the following:
All persons present in uniform (military, police, fire, etc.) should render the military salute. Members of the armed forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute.
All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.
When stowing or disposing of the flag, DO the following:
Fold in the traditional triangle for stowage, never wadded up.
The flag should be folded in its customary manner.
It is important that the fire be fairly large and of sufficient intensity to ensure complete burning of the flag.
Place the flag on the fire.
The individual(s) can come to attention, salute the flag, recite the Pledge of Allegiance and have a brief period of silent reflection.
After the flag is completely consumed, the fire should then be safely extinguished and the ashes buried.
Please make sure you are conforming to local/state fire codes or ordinances.
Quick list of Flag Etiquette Don’ts:
Don’t dip the U.S. Flag for any person, flag, or vessel.
Don’t let the flag touch the ground.
Don’t fly flag upside down unless there is an emergency.
Don’t carry the flag flat, or carry things in it.
Don’t use the flag as clothing.
Don’t store the flag where it can get dirty.
Don’t use it as a cover.
Don’t fasten it or tie it back. Always allow it to fall free.
Don’t draw on, or otherwise mark the flag.
Don’t use the flag for decoration. Use bunting with the blue on top, then white, then red.
The real Tom Sawyer has been revealed, with new research detailing his life as a hard-drinking and heroic firefighter who once saved 90 people from a steamship fire.
Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain
Known to generations as one of the most beloved characters in American literature, an extensive feature in Smithsonian Magazine details the life of the man who inspired the fictional child and title character of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
Twain and Sawyer first met in San Francisco in 1863, quickly becoming firm friends who seemingly drank in every saloon the city had to offer, according to the article.
Firefighter Tom Sawyer
On a rainy afternoon in June 1863, Mark Twain was nursing a bad hangover inside Ed Stahle’s fashionable Montgomery Street steam rooms, halfway through a two-month visit to San Francisco that would ultimately stretch to three years. At the baths he played penny ante with Stahle, the proprietor, and Tom Sawyer, the recently appointed customs inspector, volunteer fireman, special policeman and bona fide local hero.
Montgomery Street in the 1860’s
In contrast to the lanky Twain, Sawyer, three years older, was stocky and round-faced. Just returned from firefighting duties, he was covered in soot. Twain slumped as he played poker, studying his cards, hefting a bottle of dark beer and chain-smoking cigars, to which he had become addicted during his stint as a pilot for steamboats on the Mississippi River from 1859 until the Civil War disrupted river traffic in April 1861. It was his career on the Mississippi, of course, that led Samuel Clemens to his pen name, “mark twain” being the minimum river depth of two fathoms, or roughly 12 feet, that a steamboat needed under its keel.
Mid-1800’s Steamboat
After Twain’s first usage of the “character” in a book three years later, Sawyer is said to have told a reporter at the time, “He (Twain) walks up to me and puts both hands on my shoulders. ‘Tom,’ he says, ‘I’m going to write a book about a boy and the kind I have in mind was just about the toughest boy in the world. Tom, he was just such a boy as you must have been.'”
Smithsonian magazine details how Sawyer was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. where he was a torch boy for Columbia Hook and Ladder Company Number 14. In San Francisco, he worked for Broderick 1, the city’s first volunteer fire company.
1850’s Hook & Ladder Company
Sawyer had proved his heroism February 16, 1853, while serving as the fire engineer aboard the steamer Independence. Heading to San Francisco via San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and Acapulco, with 359 passengers aboard, the ship struck a reef off Baja, shuddered like a leaf and caught against jagged rocks.
Sawyer raced below deck and dropped into two feet of water. Through a huge rent, the sea was filling up overheated boilers below the waterline, cooling them rapidly. Chief Engineer Jason Collins and his men were fighting to keep steam up to reach shore. After the coal bunkers flooded, the men began tossing slats from stateroom berths into the furnaces. Sawyer heard Collins cry, “The blowers are useless!”
From Smithsonian Magazine
Loss of the blowers drove the flames out the furnace doors and ignited woodwork in the fire room and around the smokestack. Steam and flames blasted up from the hatch and ventilators. “The scene was perfectly horrible,” Sampson recalled later. “Men, women and children, screeching, crying and drowning.”
Collins and James L. Freeborn, the purser, jumped overboard, lost consciousness and sank. Sawyer, a powerful swimmer, dove into the water, caught both men by their hair and pulled them to the surface. As they clung to his back, he swam for the shore a hundred yards away, a feat of amazing strength and stamina.
Depositing Collins and Freeborn on the beach, Sawyer swam back to the burning steamer. He made a number of round trips, swimming to shore with a passenger or two on his back each time. Finally, a lifeboat was lowered, and women, children and many men, including the ship’s surgeon, who would be needed on land, packed in and were rowed to shore. Two broken lifeboats were repaired and launched. Sawyer returned to the flaming vessel in a long boat, rowing hard despite burned forearms to reach more passengers. He got a group into life preservers, then towed them ashore and went back for more. An hour later, the ship was a perfect sheet of flame.
The Smithsonian article quotes a 1898 newspaper article in which Sawyer told a reporter about the influence he had had on Twain’s most famous novel. “You want to know how I came to figure in his books, do you?” Sawyer asked in the interview, cited by the article. “Well, as I said, we both was fond of telling stories and spinning yarns.”
“Sam (Clemens, Twain’s real name), he was mighty fond of children’s doings and whenever he’d see any little fellers a-fighting on the street, he’d always stop and watch ’em and then he’d come up to the Blue Wing [saloon] and describe the whole doings and then I’d try and beat his yarn by telling him of the antics I used to play when I was a kid and say, ‘I don’t believe there ever was such another little devil ever lived as I was.’
“Sam, he would listen to these pranks of mine with great interest and he’d occasionally take ’em down in his notebook. One day he says to me: ‘I am going to put you between the covers of a book some of these days, Tom.’
‘Go ahead, Sam,’ I said, ‘but don’t disgrace my name.'”
“But [Twain’s] coming out here some day,” Sawyer added, “and I am saving up for him. When he does come there’ll be some fun, for if he gives a lecture I intend coming right in on the platform and have a few old time sallies with him.”
The nonfictional character died in the autumn of 1906, three and a half years before Twain. “Tom Sawyer, Whose Name Inspired Twain, Dies at Great Age,” the newspaper headline announced. The obituary said, “A man whose name is to be found in every worthy library in America died in this city on Friday….So highly did the author appreciate Sawyer that he gave the man’s name to his famous boy character. In that way the man who died Friday is godfather, so to speak, of one of the most enjoyable books ever written.”
Judy was a ships’ dog on board the HMS Gnat and HMS Grasshopper which were stationed on the Yangtze River before and during World War II. Her ability to hear incoming aircraft provided the crew with early warnings. Judy was transferred, with other crew, from the Gnat to the Grasshopper in June 1939 when the ship was sent to Singapore due to the British declaration of war on Germany. She was on board the ship for the battle of Singapore, which saw the Grasshopper evacuate for the Dutch East Indies. It was sunk en-route, and Judy was nearly killed having been trapped by a falling row of lockers. She was rescued when a crewman returned to the stricken vessel looking for supplies.
The surviving crew, along with Judy, made their way to Singkep in the Dutch East Indies and then onto Sumatra, with the aim to link up with the evacuating British forces. After trekking across 200 miles of jungle for five weeks, the crew and Judy arrived a day after the final vessel had left and subsequently became prisoners of war of the Japanese. Judy was eventually smuggled into the Medan POW camp, where she met Leading Aircraftsman Frank Williams for the first time. She would go on to spend the rest of her life with him. Williams convinced the camp Commandant to register her as an official prisoner of war, with the number ’81A Gloergoer, Medan’. She was the only dog to be registered as a prisoner of war during the Second World War.
Judy moved around several more camps, survived the sinking of the transport ship SS Van Warwyck and saved several prisoners from drowning. Once they had been rescued and upon arrival at a dock, she was found by Les Searle, (of the HMS Grasshopper), who tried to smuggle her onto a truck with him. However, she was discovered by a Japanese Captain who threatened to kill her. This order was countermanded by the newly arrived former Commander of the Medan POW camp and she was allowed to travel with Searle onto the new camp, where she was reunited with Frank Williams.
This camp was on the railway being built between Pekanbaru and Muaro. Here she proved herself useful in conducting trades between the locals and the POW’s, as she would indicate when the locals were hiding near the track. Her barking also alerted the guards to when there was something too large for her to handle in the jungle, such as tigers or elephants. Judy survived by catching snakes and rats for herself and for the men which substituted their diet of maggot infested rice.
Judy’s position at the camps was a treacherous one, as she often interferred whenever the Japanese guards began beating a prisoner, snapping and growling at them, which just resulted in the guards focusing their attention, and aggression, on her.
After the end of the war, Judy’s life was put in danger once again. She was about to be put to death by the Japanese guards following a lice outbreak amongst the prisoners. However, Williams hid the dog until the allied forces arrived. Searle, Williams and others smuggled Judy back to the UK aboard a troop ship where she spent the next six months in quarantine.
She was awarded the Dickin Medal by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals which is considered to be the animals version of the Victoria Cross. Her citation read, “For magnificent courage and endurance in Japanese prison camps, which helped to maintain morale among her fellow prisoners and also for saving many lives through her intelligence and watchfulness.”
Besides the medal, she was also the recipient of a serious amount of fanfare that included being “interviewed” by the BBC and having a ceremony held honoring her service on May 3, 1946 in Cadogan Square. She also became a mascot for the RAF.
Judy spent the rest of her life with Williams and continued her globetrotting by traveling with him around Africa. She was ultimately “put to sleep” on February 17, 1950 at the age of 13 as her health had declined significantly due to a tumor. Williams buried her in an RAF coat he had made especially for her and a small monument was erected in her honour.
Her Dickin Medal and collar were put on display at the Imperial War Museum in London as part of ‘The Animal’s War’ exhibition.
While these technically are not Chia Pets, you get the general look using simple grass seed! They are a little messy to make, so be sure to put down newspaper over your work space!
Let’s get started! You’ll need the following materials:
One pair knee-high nylons
Soil
Grass seed
Wide mouth drinking glass
Spoon
Googly eyes
Waterproof glue, such as Gorilla Glue
Small plastic or Styrofoam cups, such as Dixie cups
Paint pens
Felt or foam pieces in various colors
Small clay pots
Small bowl
Step 1
STEP 1:
Stretch one nylon stocking over the mouth of a wide drinking glass to make pouring the grass seed and soil into the nylon easier. Use a spoon to sprinkle a small handful of grass seed into the stocking.
Step 2
STEP 2:
Pour in one to two handfuls of soil on top of the grass seed, pushing the soil all the way down to the toe. Take the nylon off of the drinking glass, and knot the nylon close to the soil to keep the soil in place. This is your pet’s head.
Step 3
STEP 3:
With the length of leftover nylon hanging downward, glue googly eyes on to the face area and add other facial features if desired. Let the glue dry completely.
Step 4
STEP 4:
Fill the bowl with water and invert the pet’s head into it for several minutes. This wets the soil and grass seed and gets the seed growing.
Step 5
STEP 5:
Insert a small paper cup into a clay pot and fill the cup with water, Flip the pet’s head right side up and insert the loose end of the nylon into the cup. The nylon will act as a wick to pull water up and keep your grass seed watered.
DIY “chia” pets
Place the little guy where he will get sunlight, and within a week watch for the seed “hair” to sprout!
Have you ever wondered what a ghost sounds like? Engineer Vic Tandy may already know. In the early 1980s, Tandy was working in a laboratory designing medical equipment. Word began to spread among the staff that the labs might be haunted, something Tandy put down to the constant wheeze of life-support machines operating in the building.
Vic Tandy
One evening he was working on his own in the lab when he began to feel distinctly uncomfortable, breaking into a cold sweat as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He was convinced that he was being watched. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Tandy noticed an ominous grey shape drifting slowly into view, but when he turned around to face it, it was gone. Terrified, he went straight home.
Generic pic
The next day Tandy, a keen fencer, noticed that a foil blade clamped in a vice was vibrating up and down very fast. He found that the vibrations were caused by a standing sound wave that was bouncing between the end walls of the laboratory and reached a peak of intensity in the center of the room. He calculated that the frequency of the standing wave was about 19hz (cycles per second) and soon discovered that it was produced by a newly installed extractor fan. When the fan was turned off, the sound wave disappeared.
Generic fencing blade
The key here is frequency: 19hz is in the range known as infrasound, below the range of human hearing, which begins at 20hz. Tandy learned that low frequencies in this region can affect humans and animals in several ways, causing discomfort, dizziness, blurred vision (by vibrating your eyeballs), hyperventilation and fear, possibly leading to panic attacks.
1980’s era sound spectrum analyzer
Tandy went on to recreate his experience, and with the assistance of Dr. Tony Lawrence, he was able to publish his findings in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. Their research led them to conclude that infrasound at or around a frequency of 19 Hz, has a range of physiological effects, including feelings of fear and shivering. Though this had been known for many years, Tandy and Lawrence were the first people to link it to ghostly sightings. Tandy also appeared in the “Ghosts on the London Underground” documentary.
In 2001 Tandy was asked to investigate the cellar of Coventry’s Tourist Information Centre and in 2004 he was part of a research group looking for paranormal activity in Warwick Castle. In both cases he found high levels of infrasound present. Tandy also conducted large-scaled experiments including one experiment on 750 participants at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Coventry, Warwickshire, England
A more recent investigation took place in an allegedly haunted 14th-century pub cellar in Coventry, where people have reported terrifying experiences for many years, including seeing a spectral grey lady. Here Tandy also uncovered a 19hz standing wave, adding further evidential weight to his theory. The following is a generic pic from the web – I don’t know which pub he examined.
Built around 1583, The Golden Cross claims to be the oldest pub in the city and one of the longest-established alcohol-serving venues in England. There’s been a lot of bumps in the night over the years and reports of strange activity in the kitchen area. It is thought that the kitchen stands where there were once cells keeping prisoners locked away. There have also been sightings of shadowy figures appearing in the pub and it has received a Most Haunted Location award.
In an interesting parallel, researchers have recorded that, prior to an attack, a tiger’s roar contains frequencies of about 18hz, which might disorientate and paralyze their intended victim. Is this the sound of fear itself?
Many of us have seen the videos and articles about Dr. Yuval Noah Harari from the WEF discussing hacking the human brain, as well as Bill Gates’ plans to target specific areas of the brain via a virus and vaccine. In fact, DARPA’s NEAT program can help prove Dr. Harari to be prophetic about hackable humans leading to better healthcare or the worst totalitarian surveillance state in history. (Article dated March 2022)
This principle of stimulating the brain with implanted electrodes was studied in the 1950’s by Dr. Jose Delgado, following up on previous studies by others. Delgado was the Director of Neuropsychiatry at Yale University Medical School who was called a “technological wizard” for his numerous inventions. He invented a miniature electrode implanted in the brain — called a “stimoceiver” — which is capable of receiving and transmitting electronic signals wirelessly through radio waves.
Jose Manuel Rodríguez Delgado also known as “the pioneer of electric brain stimulation” was born on August 8, 1915 in Ronda, Spain. He was a physiology professor at the prestigious Ivy League Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Delgado was prominently known for his tests administering electric stimuli to the brain to control the mind.
Dr. Delgado completed his medical studies and earned a PhD in physiology from the Ramón y Cajal Institute in Madrid.In 1946, Delgado won a fellowship for a year at Yale. He later went on to accept a position in the physiology department at the same university, headed by Dr. John Farquhar Fulton, in 1950.
Fulton and his colleague, Dr. Carlyle Ferdinand Jacobsen presented a paper on the brain experiments they had conducted on chimpanzees at an international forum. These experiments described at the Second International Neurological Congress in London, held in July 1935, gave the idea of psychosurgery to Portuguese neurologist, Dr Antonio Egas Moniz.
Moniz thought of performing a similar surgery on patients with mental illnesses. Inspired by Fulton’s paper, Moniz directed the first prefrontal leucotomy on a human being, performed by his associate Almeida Lima at the Hospital Santa Marta in Lisbon on November 12, 1935. This was the beginning of leucotomies on patients with psychosis, which Moniz asserted gave the desired results.
By 1951, United States alone reported the maximum number of lobotomies performed, but by mid-1950s, lobotomy was renounced with the development of successful psychiatric medicines. Jose Delgado was horrified at the idea of lobotomy and completely against the thought of obliterating a section of the brain.
He believed in electrical implants in the brain that would pass small currents to control the behaviour of the patient. His primitive experiments consisted of implanted electrodes with wires connecting to electronic devices. This, unfortunately was a risky procedure as it curtailed the movements of the subject, and left the brain susceptible to infections.
Dr. Delgado’s most prominent experiment was with a Spanish fighter bull, Lucero, in 1964 in Cordoba, Spain on the La Alamirilla ranch owned by Don Ramón Sánchez. Lucero had been sedated and implanted with electrodes that were remote-controlled by Delgado. Dr. Delgado unfortunately does not state exactly how many bulls were involved in these experiments, but in his 1981 article he focuses his attention on the results of two bulls he implanted; one named “Cayetano” and another named “Lucero.” Both bulls were approximately 3 years old and weighed 200–280 kg.
Ranch hands prepare the bull, Lucero, for the surgery while ranch owner Don Ramon Sanchez (hand on hip) interacts with famous bullfighter El Cordobes (man in white jacket).
The bull Cayetano showing its left head turn upon stimulation of the left caudate nucleus.
Dr. Delgado in his 1981 Spanish manuscript discusses trying to replicate these experiments in docile bulls, attempting to make them more aggressive by stimulating thalamic structures. Beyond noticing motor responses (distinct body movements in response to the stimulation), he did not observe increases in aggression. He hypothesized that the electrodes may have been incorrectly placed.
Dr. Delgado then focused in his 1981 manuscript on a second bull named “Lucero,” which is the one always shown in the famous photos, as this was perhaps the most dramatic result of the bull brain stimulations. Lucero continued demonstrating robust charging behavior after the surgery, allowing for full investigation of Dr. Delgado’s ideas about aggression and brain circuits. When he stimulated at 100 Hz and 1 mA in the caudate and thalamus locations when the bull was charging a bullfighter, the bull immediately stopped and was still during the stimulation, although blinking its eyes and breathing regularly. Since no obvious motor effect was observed as in the first bull Cayetano (turning of the head, moving in a circle, etc.), Lucero had the most compelling response – the halt of the charge.
Lucero being halted in its charge to a bullfighter with thalamic or caudate stimulation.
Although the animal’s attack was halted by the stimulation, “detained in his aggressiveness,” the bull returned “furiously” to a full charge when the electrical stimulation ceased. This appears to be the best result of the bull implantations and the reason why the experiments are still remembered and discussed today.
Sew Colorful 
