Tower Survey
Month: November 2019
Grey Friday
Step By Step To Sunrise
I was up at 5:45am Sunday morning. It was still dark outside, and I tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail. It was the first morning at our Hot Springs, Arkansas VRBO rental, and I wanted to see the sunrise. I pulled a jacket over my pajamas and headed down the back steps to catch the first rays of sun peek out through the tall pine trees.
The rest of the family was still snug in their beds, but I got to enjoy the majesty of the dawn.
The sunlight lit up the mist on the lake, and I watched the ducks glide by.
We were still in the shade, but the sun hit just beyond the neighbor’s dock.
Then it lit up the shore like a fire.
And the whole neighborhood turned golden.
Warmth Of The Hearth
Space To Skate
Art Supplies Of 1929
The Price Of A Tall Starbucks Iced Coffee
Only at Starbucks does “tall” actually mean “small” these days. But that’s beside the point. What we have here is a local money trader on the Brazil side of the Venezuela-Brazil border (Brazil has borders with TEN countries). He’s counting out five million Venezuelan bolivares, which is the equivalent of just under $2.50–or enough to grab this mostly -ice overpriced drink at Starbucks.
Can you imagine handing over that stack of cash just for a drink that’s not even refillable? Good Lord. Crafty artists have decided to use the currency as a medium, making dogs out of the money and selling them on etsy for $65.
When You’re SERIOUS About Christmas Cards
Actually, this woman was a draft service worker during WWII. Men 18-65 and were required to register and keep the card on them at all times. Men age 18-45 were subject to military service. From 1940 until 1947 – when the wartime selective service act expired – over 10,000,000 men were inducted.
This cartoon in the Saturday Evening Post depicted a draft board scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Gas Envy
In 1932, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline to the nation, a “super-octane” motor fuel touted, as you can see above, as “surpassing specifications” for  emergency vehicles. Ed Wynn promoted it on his NBC radio program called the Texaco Fire Chief.
A Very Good Find In A Very Tough Year
During WWII, the not-yet-vanquished German army occupied the north of France, including the port of Cherbourg, which they heavily fortified against seaborne assault. As the only deep water port in the region, it was particularly desirable, so American troops encircled the city in June of 1944 in the Battle of Cherbourg, and handed the Germans their asses five days later, when they surrendered. The fighting left the city in a compromised state. However, in only a month, cargo ships known as Liberty Ships began to arrive, and it became the busiest port in the entire world, with twice the traffic of New York, until the war ended. It has since merged with an adjacent city to become Cherbourg-Octeville.* In this image, we see American soldiers in Cherbourg who appear to have stumbled upon some German wine stores. I’ll drink to that.
*per wikipedia
Christmas Day 1943 On Guadalcanal
Christmas Day didn’t feel very wintry to these WWII soldiers in the South Pacific. Santa braved the 90 degrees to dispense Red Cross gifts to Army and Marine hospitals and bring some holiday cheer to those missing their families back home.
Hark, Who Goes There?
I Don't Get It 