It’s Bigger Than NPR’s Katherine Maher
6 days ago
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Down Home Days at Lyerly.
My story from The Summerville News. We went last year and had a nice time. Good for young kids. See you there!
REM's long journey
Tom Junod sums up the rise and fall of REM. Painful but on target. From Esquire. And here's another take from Rolling Stone.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
REM calls it quits
A dark day for fans. Here's the piece from Rolling Stone. And here is my first favorite REM song. Catapult
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Politics
Are conservative budget hawks willing to cut defense budget? Yup and God bless 'em for it! We can have a strong national defense for less money.
From the movie 'Gettysburg'
Richard Jordan died not too long after making this movie. This scene captures him at his best. Heartbreaking.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Ex-wrestler works on Tybee
Helps with Animal Control. Easy work for a man who fought the Russian Bear Ivan Koloff.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Flair vs. Sting vs. old age
I saw Ric Flair and Sting wrestle about a 15 minute match on TNA last night. Flair, who could at one time go 60 minutes with a good wrestler, looked like a tired, worn out old man after about five minutes. Just going through the motions. These two had some great battles back in the day and they wrestled the final match of the old WCW, but last night's match made all that seem irrelevant. Just two washed up old pros damaging thei rhtier legacy. I fon't begrudge them making a few bucks while they still can, but it's scary when they are put at the top of the card in a promotion's TV show.
Sad.
Sad.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Rugby World Cup
U.S. gets a win over the Russkies. Why isn't the sport more popular here, asks Sports Illustrated.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Day Trip: The Vann House
Cherokee culture, history
highlighted at Vann House
(From The Summerville News)
By JIMMY ESPY
Staff Writer
The Chief Vann House Historic Site, located on 109-acres in the Murray County community of Spring Place, is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the Cherokee Nation.
The site is opened by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and is open Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Vann House, then known as the Diamond Hill House, was built in 1804 by James Vann, a wealthy and politically powerful Cherokee leader. Vann, the son of Scots fur trader and a Cherokee chief's daughter, had the home designed by a German architect and built by white and Indian craftsmen and slave laborers. The house was built in a combination of classic Federal and emerging Georgian styles.
The bottom two floors have three rooms, a dining room, a drawing (or family) room and a wide hallway. On the second floor is the master bedroom and a guest bedroom, separated by a hallway. Both are spacious, with 12-feet ceilings. The first and second floors also boast a porch and a veranda, with what would have been impressive views of plantation grounds.
The third floor has two bedrooms for children. They are much smaller, with six feet ceilings.
For years the much smaller, simpler rooms for the children were often referred to as "the coffin rooms," by visiting Murray Countians.
James Vann was a complicated man. Capable of great generosity, as well as impressive business and political acumen, he was also a heavy drinker with a proclivity for violence. Vann was known to have killed several men.
In 1809 he was avoiding his enemies (both white and Indian) by hiding out in Tennessee, when he visited the Buffington Tavern where he drank whisky and became embroiled in a dispute with other men.
Later in the evening, Vann was shot and killed while standing just outside the tavern by an unknown assassin.
James left almost all of his considerable belongings to his young son, Joseph, who was quickly dubbed "Rich Joe."
Joseph was an even better businessman than his father, as well as an astute politician. Though he too enjoyed the finer things his rapidly growing wealth made available, Joseph did not inherit his father's taste for violence.
He did inherit James’s love for the family home and continued to refine it. The mansion was so impressive that in 1919 President James Monroe stayed a night there while traveling from Augusta to Nashville.
Under Joseph’s stewardship, "Vann Inc." blossomed economically. The family farm eventually grew into a bustling, 800-plus acre plantation with almost 100 outbuildings, including slave quarters, barns, stables, smokehouses and a blacksmith shop.
But always at the center of plantation life was the 2.5-story (with cellar) Vann House.
By the standards of the time and place it was a remarkably rich home, featuring beautiful furniture, expensive paintings and other costly furnishings.
A large dining room and a richly furnished sitting room take up most of the first floor. The family kitchen, as was often the case in those days, was housed in a detached building to help prevent a disastrous fire. Meals were prepared there and then brought to the house by servants.
There are two main entrances to the house. James Vann wanted visitors to be impressed by both his front and back entrances, which are located on the north and south sides of the residence.
The house also had a full-sized cellar, where the family kept its meat and liquor. For years a rumor has persisted that the cellar was actually a "dungeon," where family enemies were tortured and imprisoned.
One of the most impressive design elements in the house was its "hanging staircase, which was innovatively designed and appeared to have little in the way of support. Though thousands of visitors had used the staircase without a problem over the years, several years ago the state required a supporting column be built.
The Vanns abandoned their palatial estate in 1835 at the insistence of an armed "militia" which showed up one evening and laid claim to the property. For years the state of Georgia had grown increasingly hostile toward the Indians who remained in the region. The Georgia Land Lottery of 1832, though challenged successfully in the courts by the Cherokees, divvied up most of the remaining Indian land and awarded it to white citizens.
A series of restrictive laws were also passed, intended to make life as difficult as possible for Native Americans.
In 1835, despite their wealth and influence, the Joe Vann, his two wives and their children joined thousands of other Cherokees and members of other tribes, in a forced migration. The family settled in Tennessee, where Joe established a new home including a replica of Diamond Hill. (That structure did not survive the Civil War.).
Later the family journeyed on The Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. The way west, which meant illness and death for many Eastern Indians, was not as arduous for the wealthy Vanns, though Joseph lost a daughter to illness on the way west.
The rest of the family settled in Webber’s Falls on the Arkansas River in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
Joseph retained some of his wealth and political power in the West but his life ended in the 1844 when a boiler in the steamboat he was riding in -- a vessel he owned -- exploded on the way to New Orleans.
Back in Georgia, the Vann House changed hands repeatedly over the next one hundred years, often falling into disrepair. In 1952 it was bought by private citizens and presented to the Georgia Historical Commission, which oversaw its restoration. The site was dedicated in 1958.
Today the house is maintained by the Georgia's Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites division of the Department of Natural Resources.
It remains a striking structure. Sitting on a gently slipping hill, it commands the locale.
The site features picnic tables, a 1/2 mile walking trail and several "outbuildings" containing historical materials.
The Robert E. Chamber Interpretive Center houses a book and gift shop, several fascinating exhibits, and a theater where a short film detailing the history of the Vann family and their treasured home is shown.
Tours of the house are guided and much can be learned by asking questions of the knowledgeable DNR hosts who lead the tours.
The site, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is open to the public Thursday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
highlighted at Vann House
(From The Summerville News)
By JIMMY ESPY
Staff Writer
The Chief Vann House Historic Site, located on 109-acres in the Murray County community of Spring Place, is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the Cherokee Nation.
The site is opened by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and is open Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Vann House, then known as the Diamond Hill House, was built in 1804 by James Vann, a wealthy and politically powerful Cherokee leader. Vann, the son of Scots fur trader and a Cherokee chief's daughter, had the home designed by a German architect and built by white and Indian craftsmen and slave laborers. The house was built in a combination of classic Federal and emerging Georgian styles.
The bottom two floors have three rooms, a dining room, a drawing (or family) room and a wide hallway. On the second floor is the master bedroom and a guest bedroom, separated by a hallway. Both are spacious, with 12-feet ceilings. The first and second floors also boast a porch and a veranda, with what would have been impressive views of plantation grounds.
The third floor has two bedrooms for children. They are much smaller, with six feet ceilings.
For years the much smaller, simpler rooms for the children were often referred to as "the coffin rooms," by visiting Murray Countians.
James Vann was a complicated man. Capable of great generosity, as well as impressive business and political acumen, he was also a heavy drinker with a proclivity for violence. Vann was known to have killed several men.
In 1809 he was avoiding his enemies (both white and Indian) by hiding out in Tennessee, when he visited the Buffington Tavern where he drank whisky and became embroiled in a dispute with other men.
Later in the evening, Vann was shot and killed while standing just outside the tavern by an unknown assassin.
James left almost all of his considerable belongings to his young son, Joseph, who was quickly dubbed "Rich Joe."
Joseph was an even better businessman than his father, as well as an astute politician. Though he too enjoyed the finer things his rapidly growing wealth made available, Joseph did not inherit his father's taste for violence.
He did inherit James’s love for the family home and continued to refine it. The mansion was so impressive that in 1919 President James Monroe stayed a night there while traveling from Augusta to Nashville.
Under Joseph’s stewardship, "Vann Inc." blossomed economically. The family farm eventually grew into a bustling, 800-plus acre plantation with almost 100 outbuildings, including slave quarters, barns, stables, smokehouses and a blacksmith shop.
But always at the center of plantation life was the 2.5-story (with cellar) Vann House.
By the standards of the time and place it was a remarkably rich home, featuring beautiful furniture, expensive paintings and other costly furnishings.
A large dining room and a richly furnished sitting room take up most of the first floor. The family kitchen, as was often the case in those days, was housed in a detached building to help prevent a disastrous fire. Meals were prepared there and then brought to the house by servants.
There are two main entrances to the house. James Vann wanted visitors to be impressed by both his front and back entrances, which are located on the north and south sides of the residence.
The house also had a full-sized cellar, where the family kept its meat and liquor. For years a rumor has persisted that the cellar was actually a "dungeon," where family enemies were tortured and imprisoned.
One of the most impressive design elements in the house was its "hanging staircase, which was innovatively designed and appeared to have little in the way of support. Though thousands of visitors had used the staircase without a problem over the years, several years ago the state required a supporting column be built.
The Vanns abandoned their palatial estate in 1835 at the insistence of an armed "militia" which showed up one evening and laid claim to the property. For years the state of Georgia had grown increasingly hostile toward the Indians who remained in the region. The Georgia Land Lottery of 1832, though challenged successfully in the courts by the Cherokees, divvied up most of the remaining Indian land and awarded it to white citizens.
A series of restrictive laws were also passed, intended to make life as difficult as possible for Native Americans.
In 1835, despite their wealth and influence, the Joe Vann, his two wives and their children joined thousands of other Cherokees and members of other tribes, in a forced migration. The family settled in Tennessee, where Joe established a new home including a replica of Diamond Hill. (That structure did not survive the Civil War.).
Later the family journeyed on The Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. The way west, which meant illness and death for many Eastern Indians, was not as arduous for the wealthy Vanns, though Joseph lost a daughter to illness on the way west.
The rest of the family settled in Webber’s Falls on the Arkansas River in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
Joseph retained some of his wealth and political power in the West but his life ended in the 1844 when a boiler in the steamboat he was riding in -- a vessel he owned -- exploded on the way to New Orleans.
Back in Georgia, the Vann House changed hands repeatedly over the next one hundred years, often falling into disrepair. In 1952 it was bought by private citizens and presented to the Georgia Historical Commission, which oversaw its restoration. The site was dedicated in 1958.
Today the house is maintained by the Georgia's Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites division of the Department of Natural Resources.
It remains a striking structure. Sitting on a gently slipping hill, it commands the locale.
The site features picnic tables, a 1/2 mile walking trail and several "outbuildings" containing historical materials.
The Robert E. Chamber Interpretive Center houses a book and gift shop, several fascinating exhibits, and a theater where a short film detailing the history of the Vann family and their treasured home is shown.
Tours of the house are guided and much can be learned by asking questions of the knowledgeable DNR hosts who lead the tours.
The site, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is open to the public Thursday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Hamburger hijinks
Lard ass who shouldn't be in White Castle sues White Castle because he can't fit in seat.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Cool stuff - Jonny Quest
Bill Mitchell alerted me to this. Classic Jonny Quest opening done in stop motion animation. I like this Internet thingie.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Mark Steyn
Mark Steyn talks about Laurie Ingraham, a druken German and the decline of western civilization as we have known it.
Lee Roy Selmon, RIP
As a kid I was an Oklahoma Sooners fan and loved no player more than Lee Roy Selmon. Here's a piece about him from a Tampa newspaper.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Dalton and illegals
It's a shame we can't send the local peckerwoods, layabouts, malingerers, dope fiends, white trash and cracker-ass crackers packing. Instead, we're chasing off people who came here to work. From Time.
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