This Diamond Ring Doesn’t Shine For Me Anymore

Corbis/Bettmann UPI
Corbis/Bettmann UPI

Forget pawn shops. These two freshly-divorced women threw caution (and jewelry) to the wind in observance of the Reno, Nevada custom of tossing their rings into the Truckee River. What I don’t get is why they wouldn’t want to sell them since it was 1932, amidst the Great Depression. At least get enough to buy a celebratory whiskey! And why were they wearing Hawaiian leis in the middle of the dessert? And what did their husbands do to warrant such a dismissal of vows?

In 2013, The Huffington Post shared this image, with Nevada still #5 in a list of Top Ten Divorce Capitals.

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Any of these hotspots look familiar?

This House Possessed

Dave Martin/AP
Dave Martin/AP

Actually, This House Possessed was a 1981 made-for-TV Parker Stevenson movie that gave me the willies in my formidable years. But it wasn’t nearly as scary as this shot of men being chased by a house. I bet they could give Usain Bolt a run for his money in the 100 meter dash.

When we think hurricane, we probably think of Katrina, but 1998’s Hurricane Georges was no picnic for folks in Key West. The 90-mph winds tore through homes on Houseboat Row.

Houseboat Row

Nowadays, Houseboat Row looks like this:

http://mapio.net/
http://mapio.net/

Is that winky face tempting fate? Is he squinting into the sun? Or did a seagull just make bad-bad on him?

Ripped At Sixty

credit: Sid Avery
credit: Sid Avery

Actor-comedian Joe E. Brown gets toweled off by wife Kathryn at his Brentwood home in 1951. She doesn’t seem to mind his toned 60-year-old physique. The two were married 55 years until his death in 1973.

He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s, with successful films like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Earthworm Tractors, and Alibi Ike. In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the famous punchline, “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

joe brown.gif
giphy.com

Doesn’t he look like the happiest camper ever? joe brown

Can you tell who the woman is here with him? I’d recognize her anywhere.

http://www.doctormacro.com/
http://www.doctormacro.com/

It Sounds Foolish Until You’ve Spent All Summer In Triple Digits

The Joy of LIfe by Kunhardt
The Joy of Life by Kunhardt

Members of a Moscow polar bear club tempt frostbite on their toes while preparing for a dip in icy waters.

JoyOfLife-009

While some of you are being inundated with rain this week, central Texas will remain 102 with not a chance of rain–and not a chance of me going outside.

spring

When It Rains

Illustrated History of the U.S.
Illustrated History of the U.S.

WPA (Works Progress Administration) workers load a truck with flood debris in Louisville, KY in 1937. It sure looks a muddy mess, but since we haven’t seen a drop of rain since May,  I’d take a muddy mess right now.

The Touch, The Feel Of Cotton

Leander55-004

Most of the yearbooks I collect have ads in the back. Rarely are they interesting beyond the typeset or logos of the times, but this 1955 Lion’s Lair yearbook shows student at the places of business.

Leander55-001

Leander55-008 Leander55-010

These students tried out the wheelbarrow at Allandale Hardware & Variety.

Leander55-005

This Piggly Wiggly image gives insight to mid-century grocery stores before big chains like Wal-Mart and Target served our grocery needs.

Leander55-003

Butter Krust was the best bread around; we used to cover our textbooks with Butter Krust advertising sheets.

Leander55-002

Isn’t this last one fun? I like how they spell Bubba as “Buba.”

Leander55-007

Enough Already

Acme Photo
Acme Photo

Okay, okay, I get it. The war is over. Japan has just surrendered, and folks in Washington DC are understandably celebrating with copious amounts of PDA. But tone it down, folks. Save it for the bedroom. I’m turning into an old fuddy-duddy, aren’t I?

Double Hypólito: Bringing The Hype To The 2016 Rio Olympics

kerbey's avatarThe Blog of Funny Names

photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox

Welcome to the 2016 Rio Olympics edition of The Blog of Funny Names. Today we showcase siblings Diego and Daniele Hypólito, shown here, discussing the merits of having a hometown advantage this year in Brazil. Both are gymnasts, competing for the gold.

Do not confuse the two with other hippos like Hippolytus Guarinonius, noted physician and polymath. Isn’t that a fun word? It’s not actually a teacher of many maths; it’s more of a Renaissance man, one who has knowledge of broad subjects. And speaking of broad subjects…

Perhaps, like me, the accented Hypólito surname brings to mind a baby hippo.

http://deskbg.com/ http://deskbg.com/

While this is not altogether unpleasant, it is inaccurate. Neither sibling resembles a hippo in any way. But looks can be deceiving. While Daniele looks young, she will turn 32 (egads, man!) in September. Compare this to the fact that the average age of U.S. women’s gymnastics teams has…

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