Author: BrotherFeldspar

Out of 120+ pics shot today, here’s the cream of the crop. I’ve omitted some dupes of signs that CG shot as well.

I’m disappointed to report the human-form “IMPEACH!” on the grounds of the Monument did not come off spectacularly. It was based at the far end of the Mall from the rally & stepping-off point, and wasn’t well-advertised to boot. Not enough people showed up, and some of those that did ended up wandering off due to the delay in getting the shot. The organizers ended up scrunching us into a smaller set of letters. Nonetheless, I’m proud to note that the exclamation point of “IMPEACH!” is composed entirely of Tribbers. Without further ado (click thumbnail to see larger version):


The Gang in Orange in front of Big Coffee. ManE kneeling on left in green, Tampopo standing at his left shoulder.

Waitin’ to form a letter. ManE on right, emjw behind him, CG to the left, JanetT in MD with unknown Kossack in the background.

Supersoling, tampopo, CG, and a monument to someone-or-other. My feet in the foreground.

emjw & ManE checking camera settings.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Warriors for peace. Peaciors?

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This young peacenik is head & shoulders above the rest of us!

Crowds just as the march gets going.

Some Hollywood types kick off the march.

CodePink, God bless ’em.

Yours truly with Niece the Elder, holding homemade signs.

Now we see his true colors!

Today’s Café is open, newly stocked with scrumptious pastries, farm-fresh eggs, the most aromatic of French roasts, and we’ve a mortar-and-pestle engineer grinding up some tea leaves. And for those of you commemorating this flag day in Sweden, we’ve a platter of Gustav Adolph pastries straight from the Baltic shores.

Take a seat, crack open the paper, and relax. Newcomers, please take this opportunity to intriduce yourselves: we’d love to hear from you!

There’s a disturbing news report on the radio today. Information seems to be sketchy, but apparently there’s been some activity related to the planet Mars. The Red Planet last night passed very close to Earth, and astronomers observed some sort of energy spike that appeared aimed at Earth coincident with that pass. A short time later, a number of meteors were reported to have come down in different spots of the country. Again, it’s unclear at this point whether these incidents are related. Now there’s news that police have responded to some strange activity in rural New Jersey. Crowds have gathered at one or two of the impact sites, and apparently some press are rushing to get coverage of the event.

Perhaps there are some Tribbers in that area could head over there to give us some first-hand reports. DC is remarkably calm at this hour, but I’ll head out later in the day to see if there is any sort of Federal response. Let’s keep on top of this story, folks, but let’s also keep our heads and not get carried away, shall we?

Today’s Café is open.

October 23 4004BC, according to Bishop James Ussher of Armagh, was the date on which God created the universe. So today we celebrate the universe turning 6009 years old! (And I have to say, the cosmos is purty darned spry and sharp-witted for a hexamillenarian. It must be that vegan diet.) So everyone put on your party hats and join in on a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday!” (with all due royalties paid).

Ussher, if you’re wondering, arrived at his conclusion by extrapolating back through the various reigns and lifespans of the Hebrew kings and patriarchs, calibrating with known events from other calendars. The date itself was determined by finding the Sunday nearest the autumnal equinox (and thus the Jewish New Year), which in 4004BC fell on, indeed, the 23rd of October. The year also falls close to the Venerable Bede‘s estimate of 3952BC for the universe’s creation. Another theologian named James Lightfoot arrived at a similar date for the creation about the same time Ussher did, so the calculation of a 6000-year-old universe is often called the Ussher-Lightfoot Chronology.

The date is still celebrated among geologists and earth scientists, who will begin their festivities the evening before so as not to miss the momentous anniversary itself. In contrast, there is a small subset of creationism that holds the Ussher-Lightfoot Chronology to be absolutely correct. My research for this piece did not uncover any links between the Young-Earthers and the Flat-Earthers, but I’m sure some similarities of thought exist. You may be either saddened, frightened, or amused by the Young-Earthers; I chose to be amused.

In any event, today’s Café is open, so c’mon in, join the party, and have a slice of cake. If anybody can suggest some fun birthday-party games, the management would be eager to hear them!

The Café for today is open, so please take a seat, have a cuppa joe, and relax. The behind-the-bar pharmacy is well-stocked with pain relievers and headache remedies, so those of you incapacitated after last night’s kegger can seek aid here. Alternatively, we’re offering mimosas under the category of “the hair of the dog.”

Today’s hymn:

(On this day in 1859 John Brown launched a raid on the federal armory in Harper’s Ferry, then-Virginia. The raid itself was a failure, and resulted in his death and those of his followers, but is considered by many to be the real start of the Civil War.)

Happy Sunday to all you Tribunes out there! We hope you’re enjoying the inaugural Froggy Bottom Photo Fair as much as we are. Over two dozen galleries have been put up, with more to come today. Please take a look at all of them, if you can; we have some sterling photographers among us.

And when you get that art-gallery crick in your neck from looking at so much fine imagery, c’mon in to the Café for a spell, have a soothing beverage, and visit with your colleagues. The Café is now open….