Sunset, Last Night

The Battle of Antietam

The bloodiest single day battle in American history.

Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (23,000 soldiers) than on June 6, 1944--D-day, the so-called "longest day" of World War II. More soldiers were killed and wounded at the Battle of Antietam than the deaths of all Americans in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War combined.

The Bloody Lane of the Sunken Road (between the two parallel "snake" fences) as seen from the Observation Tower. Nearly four hours of fighting between the armies resulted in over 5,000 casualties.

Politics 101

Personally, I never care for fiction or storybooks. What I like to read about are facts and statistics of any kind....facts, or what a man believes to be facts, are always delightful...Get your facts first, and then you can distort 'em as much as you please.

~Mark Twain

The Return of Frisbee the Cat

A House Within A House

When the owners of as 1930s wooden cottage in Frankfurt, Germany wanted to replace their home with a larger one, the German firm of Meixner Schluter Wendt Architects suggested instead building a new house around the original.

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Beachcombing

Tall Ship

One of the tall ships docked at Lewes, Deleware this past weekend.

Buffalo Bridge

Buffalo Bridge spans Rock Creek and the Rock Creek Parkway near Georgetown. It connects two ends of Q St. that are not on the same alignment and therefore was built with a 12-degree curve. It also sports rows of sculptured Indian heads in full headdress modeled from the life mask of Chief Kicking Bear.

Never Forget

The Pentagon, several days after 9/11.

Recollection of the day:

I was in my office getting ready for the day, checking some information online. Imus in the Morning was on the radio. A news report almost casually mentioned that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. My first thought was that it must have been a small plane accident, and I remembered that a plane had once hit the Empire State Building.

Then an announcement that a second plane had hit.

On the computer, Yahoo showed a ten second clip of the second plane crashing into the Tower. I played it several times; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then the server jammed.

As the events of the morning played out and the full-scale of the plan unfolded, I remember thinking what balls these guys must have, what an audacious plan! The WTC, the Pentagon, and the Capitol or White House hit simultaneously. Vicious, purposeful strikes against the most powerful nation in the world! Unbelievable!

I remember the anxiousness after the Pentagon was hit. Were more attacks coming. An uneasy wait.

In my mind, I was trying to minimize the damage all through the day. It wasn’t until I got home that night and watched the evening news did I realize the enormity of the tragedy.

Neighborhood Model

Sam

Carefree

Joke of the Day

At the end of the tax year, the Tax Office sent an inspector to carry out an audit of the books of a synagogue. While he was checking the books, he turned to the Rabbi and said, “I notice you buy a lot of candles. What do you do with the candle drippings?”

“Good question,” noted the Rabbi. “We save them up and send them back to the candle makers, and every now and then they send us a free box of candles.”

“Oh,” replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But one he went in his obnoxious way:

“What about all these matzo purchases, what do you do with the crumbs?”

“Ah, yes,” replied the Rabbi, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. “We collect them and send them back to the manufacturers, and every now and then they send a free box of matzo balls.”

“I see,” replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all Rabbi. “Well, Rabbi,” he went on, “what do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?”

“Here, too, we do not waste,” answered the Rabbi, “what we do is save up all the foreskins and send them back to the Tax Office, and about once a year they sent us a complete dick.”

A Man Who Loves His Job

"Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things."

~ Joe Paterno

Tomorrow Joe Paterno begins his 41st season as coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Coach Paterno’s coaching portfolio includes two National Championships (1982, 1986); five undefeated, untied teams; 20 finishes in the Top Ten of the national rankings; five AFCA Coach-of-the-Year plaques, and more than 300 former players who have signed National Football League contracts, 29 of them first-round draft choices.

Bottled Art

Rant 1

Yesterday I was to meet a young woman in my office at 9:00 AM to compile a comp card using some photos I had taken of her.

She had called me, had seemed very interested in having the comp card done, had set up the appointment, and had even asked if 9:00 AM was too early.

So, I was in my office at 9. No young woman. And no call from young woman.

And I think, here we go again.

A few months earlier, a friend and I were waiting on a soccer field for a young woman to model one of his soccer polo shirts. She never showed up and never bothered to call.

My friend saw her next day and asked her what happened. She said she hadn’t felt well. He asked her why she didn’t call, and she gave him a blank look that made him think that that wasn’t even a consideration. This from someone who managed a nearly constant conversation on her cell phone.

These are not isolated incidents. Other friends have related similar stories involving a glaring lack of integrity and/or courtesy from the twenty-something generation. And I am betting that you have a story as well.

So, what is with this generation. I think they have gotten everything they’ve wanted for so long that now they believe, understandably, that the world revolves around them.

They believe that they deserve every consideration and owe none to anyone else. They believe, in an incredibly self-absorbed way, they are entitled to the good life that everyone else had to work like Hell to get.

To the twenty-somethings: Please, we’re all in this soup together. My time is as valuable as yours. Integrity and courtesy mean something in this world. They allow us to manage our business and pleasure in an efficient and civil way. Please, please grow up!

The Company He Chooses

'Twas an evening in November,
As I very well remember,
I was strolling down the street in drunken pride,
But my knees were all a'flutter
So I landed in the gutter,
And a pig came up and lay down by my side.
Yes I lay there in the gutter
Thinking thoughts I could not utter,
When a colleen passing by did softly say, '
Ye can tell a man that boozes
By the company he chooses' -
At that, the pig got up and
Walked away.

~ Anon.

Yesterday at the National Portrait Gallery

Caladium