British Rep. to The EU Daniel Hannan Explains American Exceptionalism

My Home Improvement Project for Spring!

Think Dudes Don't Dance? Ladies and Gentleman, I Present The Haka

Do you hate the Macarena? The Cotton Eyed Joe...The Electric Slide...Achy Breaky Heart? All of these travesties have cast long, agonizing shadows over wedding receptions for thirty years. They did over mine. This was despite my hiring a legit, Southern DJ known for his repertoire of shaggin' tunes and Southern Rock that was to be my gift to the Bride's family flying in to The Hunt Country from Green Haahbaah and Duxbury. If you're like me, you probably think there is no situation where dudes would score guy points for dancing in unison. In which case, you'd be wrong.

These examples of All Black performances are all fairly rare because they feature opposing teams also doing their renditions of the Polynesian ritual. Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and others all have similar traditions but since it is New Zealand's trademark, they largely leave it alone. Tonga does a good job but the players are left admiring the masters at it. The next video is great because it shows how the performance welcomes dignitaries to their countries.

The Haka is really just one example of these types of dances. In truth, they are known throughout the Pacifac and can be dances of celebration and welcome too. In the next video, The Maori king has dancers perform it for their visitors. Notice how it is customary to react grimly to it. The All Blacks coach has his best sour face on. "This tribe is powerful. We should get back into our war canoes and return to our own island", his expression seems to say. To not do so would be like going on a diplomatic mission and laughing at the parade of tanks rolling by. Bad form. Notice how even small Kiwi boys have this countenance when watching the Maori Haka!

This one is just really good. I especially love the 'Gene Simmons Kiss' rolling tongue with the eyes bugging out. Awesome!

Trailer Trad Collecting: February Finds

Even in the deadest of months, good junk can be found. Sometimes,very cheaply. I bought the chair below for a dollar.

Yep, I bought this Emeco Navy swivel office chair right. True, the seat is trashed but a new black vinyl repair shouldn't be that hard. These chairs are still HAND MADE in the U.S. out of aluminum and were originally designed during WWII for use on submarines and warships. The unique specs that resulted in these were born from war time requirements for light-weight, fire-resistent furniture. These chairs are on permenant display at the Museum of Modern Art.

I don't know the history of this sign but I thought it was pretty cool. I'd place it from the 1950s and was probably used for a carnival game. -Remember those foul shooting games were you could never sink those foul shots for stuffed animals? This sign told suckers...er..lucky gentlemen to not pass the foul line and not to 'loft,' which I'll guess is when you underhand the toss to make the bucket.

At an estate sale, I came across a few early drafting drawings in a professor's basement drafting studio. It's no secret why NC State's newspaper is called 'The Technician.' For a hundred years, 'State' has graduated generations of scientists, inventors and designers and many remained in the area to work for local companies like IBM or to teach at one of the local colleges. -Really impressive people.

This looks like just an old piece of lead plumbing pipe, right? It's really a nice little piece of early industrial design. Carved of wood in the early 20th Century, it was used as a mold to drop forge iron pipe in foundaries. The back is labeled "garden hose" so it could have been a piece used to make outdoor pipes that flowed into garden hoses. -Which would this quite early, by the looks of it.

Nice old trophies have been snatched up a long time so it's been awhile since I've been able to grab one priced right. It's an early one from the 1920s in its original finish.

(Sorry for the repost. My blogger account got hacked and has been making blogging tough. -TT)

1921 House & Garden on Winter Gardening

Arctic Expedition, 1949: Getting There is Half The Fun

Photo Credit: US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA

Gomez "Options"

Get Down!

Church In Winter: Trampas New Mexico, 1943

Photo credit: Farm Security Administration

Trailer Trad Collecting: Slurpee or Freezee?