The Internet: A repository for all things arcane.

Posted on February 11, 2014 by The Old Wolf

Edit 8/25/2015: This post was based on a link to Grooveshark, the most awesome music streaming service since Napster. Unfortunately, a number of circumstances led to their demise. I have added a new link to the song in question.

In a recent post I saw on Facebook, a friend of mine was sharing some thoughts about dealing with ADHD in children. I mentioned that I’ve had the problem since childhood, and that ultimately it never goes away – one simply has to deal with it. Another friend remarked that it was interesting how I have been able to channel mine into insatiable curiosity. This struck me, because I had never really made the connection in a conscious way, although I have long been aware that I have a burning need to know things.

The capsule summary of my senior year at Camp Wildwood in Bridgton, Maine, describes me as an energetic tripper despite my 85-lb bulk (I was tiny until I hit 11th grade), and mentioned that however unorganized my body of knowledge, I seemed to be an inexhaustible source of interesting bits of information. So you see, it had begun early, and never ended. I used to read the encyclopedia for fun.

Then came the Internet. By the holy skull of Mogg’s virgin aunt, it’s a miracle I get anything accomplished at all – but it’s both a blessing and a curse. I’ll have something rattling around in my mind, and before the days of Google, I had no way of locating, categorizing, elaborating on, or filing it away as “done” unless it could be found in a printed resource. But with the Internet, and billions of people contributing content on a daily basis, many of the things that I would never have been able to locate have actually shown up. I mentioned a few of them over here at “The Lost Cartoons” and “Vintage Toys I have Loved” (among many others) but there is always something which tasks me.

Today I got to put another one to rest.

Back in the 80s there was a wonderful radio station in Salt Lake called KKDS (or K-Kids). It played a constant stream of amazing and delightful music and features for children – the Chicago Tribune mentioned it, saying:

WPRD-AM, now broadcasting news from the CNN Headline News service, was the first affiliate for the Imagination Stations Network, which was based in Orlando and had hoped to broadcast nationally to at least 100 affiliates by the end of its first year. When it ceased broadcasting 11 months after it began, the network had only one other affiliate, KKDS in Salt Lake City.

I was sad to see it go, and our children loved it.

Remember the Sinclairs, stars of the TV show “Dinosaurs?”

One of the songs from that show that was played frequently on KKDS was “I Can Do Whatever I Want”. It has been available on a CD, but up until now, nowhere else. Believe me, I’ve looked. And I didn’t want to shell out $30.00 or more for just the one song that I liked. My wife will confirm that I liked the song, because I periodically sing the refrain when I’m feeling a bit contrary.

But when Grooveshark, one of the better online music services out there. was in its prime, my song – my cherished, silly song – finally showed up. So now I can file that little bit of ephemera away, I know it’s out there, I can listen to it whenever I want (’cause I’m a dinosaur!) and move on to the next 50 billion items.

Its a curse, but I’ve learned to live with it.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

A curious and wistful tale.

Posted on December 25, 2013 by The Old Wolf

“For sixty years, the young lady who had been hit by a train near a boarding house in Willoughby was simply known as “The Girl in Blue.” No one knew who she was, where she was going or who to contact about her death on Christmas Eve 1933. She carried no identification, only 90 cents and a ticket to Corry, Pennsylvania. She wore a blue dress and blue shoes.

McMahon Funeral Home adopted this young lady’s funeral arrangements. Local donations paid for a headstone and flowers. More than 3,000 local residents went to McMahon Funeral Home to bid farewell to a girl they never knew.

Her identity remained a mystery of national interest until a local newspaper story commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of her death sparked a reader to contact a title agency that researched records from the sale of properties in Warren County, Pennsylvania. State authorities determined that Josephine Klimczak was The Girl in Blue. Lake County records, however, have not changed the death certificate; she is still listed as The Girl in Blue”

Everyone deserves to be remembered. The poem by Linda Ellis, “The Dash,” points out that even if a tombstone records only 1914-1933, the most important part of the inscription is the hyphen between those two dates: “What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.”

My mother had a baby sister who passed away after a brief sojourn on the earth. For 91 years she lay unmarked and unremembered, a cruel oversight for my baby aunt that I was able to rectify in 2009.

This is one reason cemeteries for me are a place of peace and contemplation rather than sorrow – every one who lies therein had value, was loved, and was valued by others, at least at some point in their lives. Many accomplished significant things, others accomplished lives of quiet dignity; even those who may have been considered monsters by some were not always so.

“Unknown but not forgotten” is the kindest memorial to a lost girl, Josephine Klimczak; may she rest in peace.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Celebrities as Classic Paintings, Annotated

Posted on December 19, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Recently over at reddit a list of photos appeared showing modern-day celebrities photoshopped onto classic paintings. The list appeared over at Imgur, but without any annotation. Various redditors chimed in and were able to provide a key, but I found these interesting enough that I thought I would present the list here, with some supplementary information which came to mind as I discussed the images with my wife. I have tried, wherever possible, to find the original painting, and provide links to the subjects depicted and the artists of the original works.

These photoshopped versions are found at worth1000.com, and a quick search over there will turn up the creators of these clever derivative images, as well as many other similar efforts.

Sir Patrick Stewart

The original painting, Philip the Good. This is a copy of an original which is thought to be lost, by Rogier van der Weden. This particular painting for Picard seems poignantly apt, in my opinion. Picard’s character was both written and interpreted as a flawed (as are we all) individual doing his utmost to make a positive difference in the universe.

For obvious reasons, this is an image heavy post; much more can be seen after the jump.

Continue reading →

Dreiländereck, Austria

Posted on December 10, 2013 by The Old Wolf

A Tripoint is a geographical location where three countries come together. There are 176 international tripoints, but over half of these are in water. Of the remaining ones, Austria has nine, which makes it the country with the most tripoints in Europe.

Most tripoints have a marker of some sort erected at the point of intersection. The one above, found in the south of Carinthia, brings together Austria, Italy, and Slovenia (in 1975, when this photo was taken, it was still part of Yugoslavia).

The sign reads “Attention! National border!”

Usually a tripoint is accessible, and though the “official” country border comes up to the monument, there is often a more ominous border set back from the attraction itself. Back in those days, Yugoslavia was still a communist country and you didn’t want to get caught on the other side.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

A Visit to Dr. Feelgood

Posted on November 27, 2013 by The Old Wolf

A curious side effect of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination is a resurgence of interest (albeit a small resurgence) in New York’s infamous “Dr. Feelgood,” formally known as Dr. Max Jacobson. I grew up in New York in the 50s and 60s, and my mother was an actress there; I remember her speaking fondly of Dr. Max. In fact, his name was a household word around our home. She got me an appointment with him one time – I was probably around 16 – for Mogg only knows what reason, but I remember the experience vividly.

At the time I had no clue Max was so notorious, although an article which came out some time before 1968 ² in a local publication had made reference to “Doctor A,” “Doctor B,” and “Doctor C” – it was some sort of investigative report on unconventional medical treatments, and I wish I could find it again, because there’s no question in anyone’s mind who ever visited him that “Doctor C” was Max. Scanning the Internet now, I was surprised to find that a book was written about Max by by Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes, whence the quote and patient list below were extracted. There seems to be no question that he was treating a large range of patients with methamphetamines, which is why they loved his treatments… he made them happy happy happy! President Kennedy’s visits to and by Max are well-documented, and about the injections Kennedy said, “I don’t care if it’s horse piss. It works.” Among Max’s other clients were:

President Harry S. Truman, J. Edgar Hoover, Richard M. Nixon, Rod Serling, Jacqueline Kennedy, Spiro Agnew, Sir Winston Churchill, Cecil B. DeMille, Robert Goulet, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Shapiro, Eddie Fisher, Truman Capote, Bette Davis, Eartha Kitt, Maurice Chevalier, Ludwig Bemelmans, Mike Nichols, Gertrude Lawrence, Burt Bacharach, Sheilah Graham, Margaret Leighton, Rita Moreno, Frank Sinatra, Tennessee Williams, Paul Lynde, Alan Jay Lerner, Howard Cosell, Mike Todd, Hermine Gingold, Jose Ferrer, Anais Nin, Henry & June Miller, Andy Warhol, Yul Brynner, Arlene Francis, Johnny Mathis, Martin Gabel, Franchot Tone, Igor Goran, Rosemary Clooney, Nelson Rockefeller, Burgess Meredith, Ronny Graham, Roy Cohn, Marilyn Monroe, Josh Logan, Hedy LeMarr, Edward G. Robinson, Emilio Pucci, Billy Wilder, Leontyne Price, Senator Claude Pepper, Paul Robeson, Igor Stravinsky, Cary Grant, Peter Lawford, Bob Cummings, Van Cliburn, Tony Franciosa, Phyllis McGuire, Ellen Hanley, Sam “MoMo” Giancanna, Judith Campbell Exner, Mel Allen, Mickey Mantle, Marion Marlowe, Shelley Winters, Leonard Bernstein, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Morgan, Rosalind Russell, Marianne Anderson, Dr. Niels Bohr, Tony Curtis, Greta Stuckles, Mabel Mercer, Richard Burton, Andy Williams, Ambassador Eusebio Morales, George Kaufman, Mark Shaw, Pat Suzuki, Burton Lane, Alice Ghostley, Felice Orlandi (Alice Ghostley), Rex Harrison, Eddie Albert, Maynard Ferguson, Roscoe Lee Browne, Zero Mostel, Bob Richardson, Cicely Tyson, Maya Deren, Milton Blackstone, Elvis Presley, Chuck Spalding, Col. Tom Parker, Stavros Niachros, Gore Vidal, Lee Bouvier Radziwill, Prince Stash Radziwill, Vincent Alo (“Jimmy Blue Eyes”), Katherine Dunham, Peter Lorre, Judy Garland, Franco Zefferelli, Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Havoc), Otto Preminger, Anthony Quinn, Rebekah Harkness, Edie Sedgewick, Roddy McDowell, Patrick O’Neil, Kurt Braun, Leonard Silman, John Hancock (director), Kay Thompson, Bob Fosse, John Murray Anderson, Hugh Martin, Arnold Saint-Subber, Louis Nizer, Sharon Tate, Barbara Harris, Christopher Plummer, Thelonious Monk, Jim Thompson, Florence Eldridge, Frederic March, Harry Belafonte, Stavros Niarchos, Brigid Berlin, Arthur Laurents, Leo Lerman, Maria Callas, Albert Dekker, Brian Jones (Rolling Stones), Andrew Oldham (Rolling Stones Manager), Ruth Yorck, John LaTouche, Don and Phil Everly (Everly Brothers), Louis Jourdan, Jason Wingreen, Mike Nichols, Pablo Casals, Ayn Rand, and Montgomery Clift

Max seemed pleasant and inoffensive, coming across as the absent-minded professor type, and I recall his office well, a jumble of odds and ends, jars of orange solutions with glowing colored stones being “irradiated” with ultraviolet light, and a hodgepodge of other things. Max examined me, drew up a syringe full of I don’t think I want to know, and injected me RIGHT UNDER THE FLIPPING BREASTBONE with a needle that looked big enough to terrify Big Jake. I don’t think I fainted, and in reality the needle was probably a small subq, but I had never had an injection there and it rattled me considerable. I don’t remember going out singing, as some of his patients seemed to do – maybe I got the low-octane stuff. But I’ll never forget it, and I’m tickled that I had an encounter with one of New York’s more infamous characters.

There was another set of stories that got told frequently at home, and I’m not sure if they are related to Dr. Max or not. In my mind, however, they were – so I’m going to relate them here anyway. I was put in mind of these stories by a delightful article over at “Oh God, my Wife is German” where the author talks about his wife’s love of “King of the Thorns.” Unless I’m totally off the mark, Max had a nurse at one point who was Teutonic in origin, and whose English was often flavored with Germanisms. The three instances I recall hearing the most often are:

“I’m sorry, you can’t see the doctor right now – he’s right in the middle of somebody very important!”
“Now this may hurt a bit, but don’t worry, you won’t last long!”
Patient: “Nurse, I need a vase.” ^[1]Nurse: “Ja, and how big is your bouquet?”

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Footnotes:

[1] For the uninitiated, “vase” was hospital parlance for those portable urinals for bedridden patients.

[2] A subsequent search in 2017 turned up the article in question, from New York magazine and actually published on February 8, 1971.

The Cricket Chorus: Reality trumps the Internet Once Again

Posted on November 23, 2013 by The Old Wolf

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen this story pop up on various social media and fora:

“Someone Recorded Crickets then Slowed Down the Track, And It Sounds Like Humans Singing”

For myself, I had doubts about this the first time I heard it – I found several tracks of crickets singing, slowed them down to various speeds, and they sounded like… drunken crickets singing. The shared articles usually include the sentence,

“Though it sounds like human voices, everything you hear in the recording is the crickets themselves.”

Well, as lovely as it sounds, it just ain’t so. It’s actually a multi-track recording, consisting of crickets and the beautiful operatic voice of Bonnie Jo Hunt.

You can read the full story at ScienceBlogs. Edit: This matter is not at all clear. I suggest that you read all the comments at the ScienceBlogs article and come to your own conclusion. A commenter named Thibaut refutes the claims made there and provides some of his own experimental results, but other comments back up the claims of the ScienceBlogs author and provide additional information as to the origin of the viral track. For myself, until I see further confirmation that crickets can be made to sound like a human chorus through audio manipulation, I remain unconvinced.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Hell in a Jar

Posted on November 17, 2013 by The Old Wolf

I love spicy food. I guess I developed a taste for it when my mother took me to this little hole in the wall restaurant in New York named Xochitl which I have mentioned elsewhere. Their hot sauce was served in little ceramic pots, and one learned to use it most sparingly. But like certain other things in life, once the barn door has been opened and the horses are out, there’s no going back.

My cabinet is full of various types of hot sauces; a dear friend presented me with 6 different flavors last Christmas, and along with the ever-present Tabasco™ and Tapatio™ and Frank’s Original™, there are around a dozen other varieties either above the stove or in storage.

Yes, I like hot things.

But there’s a difference between pleasing heat and liquid pain, as I discovered in a few instances – in my experience, Blair’s After Death™ sauce has very little flavor, and mostly heat, even though it comes in at a paltry 50,000 Scoville units. I say paltry, because there are sauces out there that rate much, much higher – but I only used it in a couple of preparations, and in very small doses, and things still came out hotter than I care for. I cannot imagine the effect of adding even one crystal of pure Capsaicin (rated 16 million Scovilles) to any food.

“The strength of Blair’s hottest product, “Blair’s 16 Million Reserve”, is 16 million Scoville units (Tabasco™, in comparison, is 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units). It contains only capsaicin crystals, and is the hottest possible capsaicin-based sauce. Only 999 bottles of “Blair’s 16 Million Reserve” were produced, each one signed and numbered by the firm’s founder, and have all been sold. This reserve was certified by the Guinness book of World Records as the hottest product available.” (Wikipedia)

You can find bottles for sale around the net for around $400.00 if you’re insane enough to want some, or as a collector’s item.

Another time my family took my oldest son out for his birthday, and for an appetizer we ordered something called the “On Death Roll,” which came with a warning on the menu that you had to sign a waiver before ordering it. No waiver was forthcoming, but holy flapping scrith! My younger son and my daughter and I all tried it, and the birthday boy, smarter than we, sat and watched the festivities as we all thought we were going to die. “I didn’t know I was going to get dinner and a show,” said he, roguishly. I have no idea what they added to that tuna roll, but it was accurately advertised. Hqiz!

So the other day when the Goodwoman of the House was frying up some squash and onions, she was rummaging around in the spice cabinet and found this:

“Well,” she thought, “this will add a pleasant bit of spice to the preparation,” thinking it was perhaps akin to Cayenne pepper (30,000 – 50,000 Scovilles). No, dear, it’s pure ground Habanero (100,000 – 350,000 Scovilles). She likes hot stuff too, but the resulting preparation brought tears to both of us. We did eat, and were filled, and the remainder got mixed in to some chili that was waiting to be eaten, which livened it up considerable.

Yup. Goes for other things too. Which reminds me of this story which has been around for a while, but which is too good not to include here:

The Chili Contest

Notes From An Inexperienced Chili Taster Named FRANK, who was visiting Texas: “Recently I was honored to be selected as an outstanding Famous celebrity in Texas, to be a judge at a chili cook off, because no one else wanted to do it. Also the original person called in sick at the last moment, and I happened to be standing there at the judge’s table asking directions to the beer wagon when the call came. I was assured by the other two judges (Native Texans) that the chili wouldn’t be all that spicy, and besides they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted. Here are the scorecards from the event:”

Chili # 1: Mike’s Maniac Mobster Monster Chili

JUDGE ONE: A little too heavy on tomato. Amusing kick.
JUDGE TWO: Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.
FRANK: Holy smokes, what the HELL is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway with it. Took two beers to put the flames out. Hope that’s the worst one. These hicks are crazy.

Chili # 2: Arthur’s Afterburner Chili

JUDGE ONE: Smoky (barbecue?) with a hint of pork. Slight Jalapeno tang.
JUDGE TWO: Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
FRANK: Shit! Keep this away from the children! I’m not sure what I’m supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. Shoved my way to the front of the beer line.

Chili # 3: Fred’s Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili

JUDGE ONE: Excellent firehouse chili! Great kick. Needs more beans.
JUDGE TWO: A beanless chili, a bit salty, good use of red peppers.
FRANK: This has got to be a joke. Call the EPA, I’ve located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now and got out of my way so I could make it to the beer wagon. Barmaid pounded me on the back; now my backbone is in the front part of my chest.

Chili # 4: Bubba’s Black Magic

JUDGE ONE: Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.
JUDGE TWO: Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili.
FRANK: I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills to save me the run.

Chili # 5: Linda’s Legal Lip Remover

JUDGE ONE: Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.
JUDGE TWO: Chili using shredded beef; could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.
FRANK: My ears are ringing, and I can’t focus my eyes. I farted and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed hurt when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue by pouring beer directly on it. Sort of irritates me that one of the other judges asked me to stop screaming.

Chili # 6: Vera’s Very Vegetarian Variety

JUDGE ONE: Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spice and peppers.
JUDGE TWO: The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic. Superb.
FRANK: My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous flames. Noone seems inclined to stand behind me except Sally.

Chili # 7: Susan’s Screaming Sensation Chili

JUDGE ONE: A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.
JUDGE TWO: Very Ho Hum, tastes as if the chef threw in canned chili peppers at the last moment. I should note that I am worried about Judge Number 3. He appears to be in a bit of distress.
FRANK: You could put a grenade in my mouth and pull the pin, and I wouldn’t feel it. I’ve lost the sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My clothes are covered with chili which slid unnoticed out of my mouth at some point. Thank God! At autopsy they’ll know what killed me. Have decided to stop breathing, too painful, not getting any oxygen anyway.

Chili # 8: Helen’s Mount Saint Chili

JUDGE ONE: A perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili, safe for all, not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence.
JUDGE TWO: This final entry is a good, balanced chili, neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge Number 3 fell and pulled the chili pot on top of himself.
FRANK: ——- (Editor’s note: Judge #3 was unable to report)

All this talk about hot sauce is having an interesting effect, that I’ve never been able to explain – I recorded it back in 2009 over at my Livejournal:

The last two times I’ve prepared spicy foods, though, I’ve had a very unusual experience – the flush to the face begins as soon as I’ve opened the bottle of hot sauce – and haven’t even eaten it yet. The first time it happened, I thought “imagining things.” But it happened again today… as I was liberally lacing my burritos with Tabasco, I started getting the burning and vascular dilation that I always experience with certain peppers – very much like a Niacin flush, if you’ve ever experienced that. And, what’s even stranger, I’m experiencing a repeat as I type this, half an hour after lunch. Just thinking about it was sufficient to recall the phyiological response.

Now tha’s just weird. Maybe if I salivate enough, I can get my doorbell to ring.

And it’s happening right now. Stranger than fiction.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

My favorite flash mobs.

Posted on November 15, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Flashmobs have all sorts of different reasons for taking place, but some of the ones I have seen lately are real movers. I just thought I’d share a few of my favorites, because I feel uplifted any time I watch one of these.

Someday I’d love to participate in one, or at least be around when it happens.

Best visit to Williamsburg, Virginia.

Best coin ever spent. Sabadell, Spain.

Best button ever pushed. It’s an advert, but who cares.

Best visit to a train station ever – Antwerp, Belgium.

Best “What the hqiz just happened” moment – Québec, Canada. The message may be a bit heavy-handed, but it’s valid just the same.

I hope these please you as much as they did me. One of my favorite parts of these are watching the expressions of the audience; you can tell who enjoys life, and who has a bit of baggage they could perhaps stand to shed…

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Livin’ the Tiny Life

Posted on November 10, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Road tripping with a BMW Isetta. All photos found at the Airstreamin’ Facebook Page.

There is something terribly attractive about the thought of living so simply that you could pull up stakes and travel anywhere at any time. I’m not sure I could give up my books, though – just about everything else could go. You’d need to be a real trooper to feel comfortable sleeping in such cramped quarters, but I know there are lots of folks who could. More power to them.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The Hillside Letters

Posted on November 4, 2013 by The Old Wolf

If you have never been in the great West, a local phenomenon may raise your eyebrows as well as a few questions. You’ll see huge letters all over the mountains and hills – some large, elaborate, and concrete, others not much more than the impression of thousands of feet wearing them into the soil. But they’re hard to miss once you get west of Denver.

From Wikipedia: Hillside letters or mountain monograms are a form of geoglyph (more specifically hill figures) common in the American West, consisting of large single letters, abbreviations, or messages emblazoned on hillsides, typically created and maintained by schools or towns. There are approximately 500 of these geoglyphs, ranging in size from a few feet to hundreds of feet tall. They form an important part of the western cultural landscape, where they function as symbols of school pride and civic identity, similar to water towers and town slogans on highway “welcome to” signs in other regions.

University of Utah – Block “U” in 1971

Illuminated for Homecoming. As with BYU (mentioned below), the Intercollegiate Knights had the privilege of whitening and lighting the Block U. The U was reconstructed a number of times, and the latest incarnation included plug boxes that allowed lightbulbs to be plugged in during homecoming. In this manner, the bulbs could be easily removed after an event and not left to the depredations of weather or vandals.

Block “U” as seen from Google Earth, the light plug boxes visible.

By 1974, the IK’s were an endangered species, but they did their best to keep the tradition going as long as possible. It was traditional during the famous rivalry games between the U of Utah and BYU for students to try to paint the opposing team’s letter the wrong color, which necessitated the whitewashing if efforts were successful – as well as repairing the effects of weather.

Here are six of the intrepid 9 who soldiered on. Below are three shots from an earlier event in October of 1967, showing the previous Block “U” before it’s refurbishing.

On to Provo…

The Block “Y” on the mountain above Brigham Young University

The “Block Y” illuminated at night with electric lamps. Originally the “Y” was lit with “goop,” balls of mattress stuffing mixed with oil; the Intercollegiate Knights service fraternity was responsible for this activity. Later students lit the “Y” with torches, and in the 70’s, for safety reasons, strings of lights were devised that allowed the letter to be lit up (usually at homecoming or during important athletic events) without the risk of fire on the hillside.

A lovely video which explains not only the history of the “Y” but also gives a feeling of why these letters are important to those who place them.

Payson High School – Payson, Utah

Sometimes you wonder if they were thinking. Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Map of the block letters in the West. Click through for a list of where these letters can be found.

I grew up in New York City, but I’ve been in the West since 1969, and these ubiquitous letters have become part of my world. I wouldn’t recommend the expansion of the tradition eastward, as they do cause some damage to the areas where they are installed, but the ones that exist continue to be an expression of local pride and have a decidedly western flavor.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Playing in the World Game

As One

Category Archives: Items of interest

The Internet: A repository for all things arcane.

A curious and wistful tale.

Celebrities as Classic Paintings, Annotated

Dreiländereck, Austria

A Visit to Dr. Feelgood

The Cricket Chorus: Reality trumps the Internet Once Again

Hell in a Jar

The Chili Contest

My favorite flash mobs.

Livin’ the Tiny Life

The Hillside Letters