Day 725: Christmas Day, 1914

originally published December 25, 2013 No matter what you’ll be doing today, there will be no escaping that subtle shift in the light, the quirky zigzag of distorted collective energy – it’s Christmas, and the world always looks, sounds and smells a little different on Christmas. For some it’s a holy day, for others a […]

Day 720: Appetitus Infinitum

originally published December 20, 2013 Every so often I come across a topic so bereft of logic and reason, so astoundingly zapped with surrealism and unfathomable strangeness, I feel I may as well be writing a piece of fiction. And while any tall tale from the eighteenth century is certainly subject to hyperbole and the […]

Day 719: The Nine Titans Of Little Rock

originally published December 19, 2013 Every so often I like to remind my readers that we used to live in a world that was, by all modern standards of logic and sanity, ridiculous. Perhaps it’s my subversive way of suggesting that some of the issues we face today will be looked upon as ludicrous and/or […]

Day 713: A Rat In Their Midst

originally published December 13, 2013 Sometime around 10:00 or 10:30 on the morning of Friday, August 4, 1944, a German officer named Karl Silberbauer showed up at the doorstep of Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam, accompanied by a handful of plain-clothes Dutch policemen. The visit was anything but social. A few minutes later they were marching […]

Day 704: The Angel Of Budapest

originally published December 4, 2013 After trudging through a kilograph of hatred, bigotry and anti-Semitism yesterday, my soul needs a purge, a forceful injection of positivity. While there is undoubtedly a trough of sludge and sentient filth mucking up the floor in the stable of human-kind, more attention should be given to the luminous, the […]

Day 695: Would The Real Dmitri Please Stand Up?

originally published November 25, 2013 It takes a curious glimmer of morning sun to inspire me to bitch-slap my daily tithe with the walloping sting of some Russian history. But a wonky story is a wonky story, and one of the most bat-crappingly wonktastic periods in the crazy history of the Russian Empire is the […]

Day 686: Titanic’s Scrutinized Survivors

originally published November 16, 2013 101 years ago (give or take seven months) the world bore witness to one of the nastiest maritime disasters in history. Perhaps you’re familiar with the James Cameron mega-film event or the toxic schmaltz that Celine Dion sang for it. When that iceberg jabbed its elbow into the hull of […]

Day 681: Six Legacies Worth A Salute

originally published November 11, 2013 You’ve probably never heard of Charles Davis Lucas. Like most recipients of the Victoria Cross, the highest honor awardable to members of the British and Commonwealth military forces, his name is far from household. But that’s what today is about: slapping a virtual high-five with the ghosts of wars gone […]

Day 672: Sir Ranulph’s World

originally published November 2, 2013 Were I to sit before this screen with the intent of writing my autobiography, I fear I would become intimately entwined with a snow-blank page for an unconscionably long time. While my life is not wholly devoid of anecdotes, humorous reveals and egregiously minor suburban adventures, it would most certainly […]

Day 657: The Man With No Name

originally published October 18, 2013 Is there anything scarier than the thought of losing your memory? Forgetting your identity? Your loved ones? Your years of acquired wisdom? Well sure, there’s axe-wielding sharks spewing up from a sudden chasm in the middle of Fifth Avenue – I suppose that’s a little scarier (back off, Sci-Fi Channel! […]