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Lincoln’s Pocketwatch

 

‘In 2009 the Smithsonian found a “secret” message engraved in Abraham Lincoln’s watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington, D.C. 

‘In an interview with The New York Times April 30, 1906, 84-year-old Jonathan Dillon recalled he was working for M.W. Galt and Co. on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, where he was repairing Lincoln’s watch. The owner of the shop announced that the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. Dillon reported that he unscrewed the dial of the watch, and with a sharp instrument wrote on the metal beneath:

‘The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.’

‘He then signed and dated the inscription and closed the dial. Dillon told The New York Times in 1906 that to his knowledge, no one ever saw the inscription. 

‘After being contacted by Dillon’s great-great-grandson, the museum agreed to remove the dial to see if the watchmaker’s message was inside. The museum did find a message inscribed on the brass underside of the movement. The wording was slightly different from Dillon’s own recollection. The actual engraving says: 

‘Jonathan Dillon
April 13-1861
Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon
April 13-1861
Washington Thank God we have a government
Jonth Dillon

‘“Lincoln never knew of the message he carried in his pocket,” said the director of the National Museum of American History. This inscription remained hidden behind the dial for almost 150 years.’

– Smithsonian Museum

Wikipedia: Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. →

The World Of Garbage Pail Kids Revisited

Truly some of the most revolting, but yet catchy artwork has been from the series “Garbage Pail Kids”. These scenes of disgusting kids became wildly popular in the 1980’s in the United States. The trading cards were stickers as well so you could share the horror with others in public places (mostly not at the request of the property owner). Here are sets 1 and 2 in all there putrid glory.

 

A Boat Built To Sink

Wonders never cease. Artist Julien Berthier, obviously an artist of boats, built a ship looking like its perpetually sinking. It has a fully functional and shipshape bottom. One can only imagine the price it was to put it into fabrication. Here are some excellent photos of it as well as a picture of it docked in a marina (hillarious).

 

If Pacman Were Real…..

“She Loved That Moped…….”

(3 June 2009, North Carolina) Greensboro was inundated with four inches of pouring rain in two hours, stranding several cars on flooded roads. Rosanne T., 50, was not deterred. She hopped on her moped and drove to a convenience store where she “possibly had a beer,” according to her mother, before deciding to blunder home through the storm. She phoned home to say, “My moped has two rubber wheels, Mom, I’ll be fine.”North Carolina does not require a license to own a moped.
Ms. T. had acquired hers two years previously after a DUI conviction.

The Highway Patrol had blocked off several roads that were inundated with water, including Rosanne’s path home. But she rode right past the officer and the barriers, lost control of her vehicle, and fell into the swollen creek below. The officer retrieved rope from his vehicle and proceeded to haul her from the water.

He then interviewed the woman, probably inquiring about her motivation for speeding through a roadblock during a flash flood. When the officer returned to his patrol car to call for assistance, Rosanne took the opportunity to escape–by jumping back into the creek!

The officer attempted to rescue her again, but alas, it was too late.

The victim’s mother speculated that her daughter’s motivation for jumping into a flooded creek was to rescue her drowning moped. “She loved that thing.”

The Madison Boulder

 

One of the largest glacial erratics in the world resides in the quiet mountain town of Madison, New Hampshire