Blogging Fusion

House of Cards

“Oops.”"House of cards" is an expression, which dates back to 1645 meaning a structure built on a shaky foundation and will collapse if you remove a necessary element. A house of cards is also a structure created by stacking standard playing cards on top of each other putting forth this law of stacking by professional card stacker Bryan Berg:The more cards placed the stronger it becomes because the weight of the cards pushing down on the base (increasing friction) allows occasional cards to stumble without the entire structure collapsing. Which displaces the currently held theory that the larger the structure, the more likely it is to fall.I would tend to listen to Berg since he holds the current record by building a replica of The Venetian Macao (do take a look) resort hotel, which he accomplished in 44 days, using 218,792 cards and more than 4000 decks with nothing but his own dexterity.In other words, no glue, no tape, no Velcro. We’re not sure when this patience teaching pastime originated  but it stands to reason it must have been shortly after playing cards were invented in ancient China as early as the 9th century. We do know they started keeping records at the turn of the 20th century when a picture of Miss Victoria Maitland's 15-story structure was published in The Strand Magazine  in 1901.If any of this inspires you, all you need are a flat surface, a  deck of cards and a decision on your structure.A single card between its walls or one level stacked on top of another?Or something more ambitious? So how do you stack up?

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The Empire Strikes Back

Crown colonies like Rhodesia were granted their independence. The world applauded at how diplomatic Britain was in handling it.The Falkland Islands, located in the Atlantic, 250 miles off the coast of Argentina, changed all that.  No more Mr. Nice guy. Britain had held the oil rich islands since the 1830s, but Argentina insisted they had a prior claim on what they called the "Malvinas."The British proposed a long-term lease, which was rejected by the military junta.  Governor of the islands, Sir Rex Hunt on hearing of Argentine invasion plans:"Sounds like the buggers mean it." Mean it they did. Britain reacted and off went the daunting HMS Dauntless, a task force consisting of 28,000 troops and over 100 ships, while the Argentinean forces were limited to 12,000 mainly conscripted soldiers and only 40 vessels.Two months later, more than six hundred Argentineans had died and the battle was lost.  The British victory, with minimal casualties, resulted in a boom of domestic support for Thatcher, (the recent movie was widely panned in Argentina) and jingoism from the tabloids.   Heading into the 30-year Commemoration of the "Forgotten War" this April, Argentina is still pushing for more talks with the UK and 75 percent of its people still want the islands.Tensions are mounting.Again. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has actually accused Argentina of "colonizing."The British Empire, which at its height included approximately 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population and covered a quarter of the Earth's total land area, isn't about to give up one of its last remnants without a fight.Fortunately, it's still a war of words. 

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Super Bowl Recipes: A Guide To The Perfect Game Day Menu

I've gone to my farm in Kentucky for the weekend. It's a great place to relax, do a little hard physical labor, and forget about the rest of the world. If you don't have such a place, I highly suggest you get one.In the meantime, even if you're not into the Big Game here's something to chew on.See you on Monday.J. PetermanFrom: SB Nation

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6 new breeds debut at Westminster dog show, but history shows rookies face long odds to win

I've gone to my farm in Kentucky for the weekend. It's a great place to relax, do a little hard physical labor, and forget about the rest of the world. If you don't have such a place, I highly suggest you get one.In the meantime, here's something I found for you to read that might breed some interest.See you on Monday.J. PetermanFrom: The Toledo Blade 

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What does he Know?

Don’t believe anything you saw or heard about Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow yesterday, and all this six more weeks of winter stuff.I have inside information he was an imposter.The real PP peeked his head from his burrow and said, “What shadow? Phew, it's spring already, or is it?”He’s confused, and I hear under mild sedation.No getting around it; so far this winter is a washout.You remember winter, don’t you? It's the coldest season of the year, located between autumn and spring, from an old Germanic word that means "time of water." Old Man Winter, no doubt pining away for the good old days, when it hit North America in 1607 causing Lake Superior to be covered in ice until June.Instead of temperatures this week like this: Washington, DC: 72 degrees, where the average is 44. New York City: 63 degrees, where the average is 39. Chicago, buried under about 2 feet of snow a year ago, is having its warmest winter in 80 years.  In Bismarck, ND, 5.9 inches of snow have fallen this winter — the average is 29 inches. Daffodils are already in bloom in NW Mississippi. The National Climatic Data Center says 19 percent of the USA had snow on the ground this Wednesday. As opposed to a year ago when 52 percent of the country was snow-covered.Meteorologists, who have been known to be wrong before, say it's all about the jet stream cutting off the cold air for much of the winter, sending it north of the USA.All of which is causing ski resorts to artificially produce their own snow, ice fishing derbies to be canceled and other such calamities.So...how are you coping with this unexpected weather?

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The Original Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe wouldn't have been inspired to write the great novel without knowing his story.Neither would William Cowper have written the great poem:"The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk," which gave us this stirring line:“I am monarch of all I survey..."The real life "monarch" was onboard the Cinque Ports, an explorer ship, visiting an island, in an uninhabited archipelago of Juan Fernández, off the coast of Chile.He had grave concerns about getting back on the ship since he didn't think the old "bucket" would last another journey. Apparently, he couldn't convince his crewmates, since he was left marooned with only his sea chest and bedding, shouting from the beach for mercy.He was a mess the first year, surviving on shellfish, scanning the ocean daily for rescue, scared to move inland since he heard "strange" noises.Then a stroke of luck.Hordes of raucous sea lions mating on the beach drove him inland.At first he was tormented by vermin: “the rats gnawed his feet and clothes whilst asleep” but he tamed cats to keep them away, and goats, “to divert himself,”  with whom he “would now and then sing and dance.” Selkirk found fresh water and food, a few of his "dance partners" for protein, and plums for vitamins.   After almost five years, his rescue occurred in 1709 courtesy of Captain Woodes Rogers, captain of the Duke, (and famed pirate hunter) who referred to this wild-eyed man with a long beard, dressed in goatskins,  as "Governor of the island."  If you’re in the neighborhood do visit his Island, now called “Robinson Crusoe Island.” As Journalist Richard Steele, who interviewed Selkirk, put it at the time in “The Englishman:" “This plain Man's Story is a memorable Example that he is happiest who confines his Wants to natural Necessities; and he that goes further in his Desires, increases his Wants in Proportion to his Acquisitions." Though I'm not recommending being a castaway, there is a lesson in this tale somewhere.

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