*** Stranger than fact perhaps...and a voice for Our Town

And now something completely different....and it is not yet April Fools Day.

Strange Object in Baltic Sea-- CNN via Huffington Post

And

U-TUBE with Iris Dement singing the haunting OUR TOWN

My daughter thought Iris Dement sounded like a goat and immediately went into the "It's the goat lady" whenever she heard her sing.  I did not find her sound quite that terrible and her song OUR TOWN is haunting to those of us who grew up in or near to small South Dakot a towns.

And in the area of old names and new names, consider

The Old Name was

and 2200 years later, the New Name is Bullshit Grinder.

The device/toy might be a good subject for new South Dakota Flag logo..or perhaps better yet for the South Dakota legislature.  I finally remembered to check the meaning of "trammel".  Archimede's device turned up, but the first more general meaning involves controlling or constraining movement.  Which fits with the sliding wood blocks constrained to move in slots.  The handle end traces an oval.  Another easy way to do that is with a piece of string tied into a loop.  Two pegs or nails spaced a few inches apart with the string loop around them act as contraint for the movement of a pencil or pen in the end of the loop away from the two pegs.  See your local geometry teacher for more information.

*** Stay tuned even if your taste for stange or odd is limited only to your wife's cooking-- Doug Wiken

 

Comments

[caheidelberger]

Iris Dement: Erin points out that song was used quite powerfully in the final episode of Northern Exposure. The show was often light-hearted comedy, but in a deep way, it was about community. Leaving that "community" to that tune was strong cinema.

[D.E. Bishop]

Just looked at the Bullshit Grinder. Love it.Thanks.

[John]

I have two BS grinders, one of which I made myself, many years ago. Never heard them called anything else until I read your post today. A photo is at http://www.logue.net/john/bs_grinders.htm

Note from Doug: John, I had never heard them called that either. The wisdom of Google and Wikipedia. I had heard the word "trammel" before, but looked it up today.. I will take a look at your photo.