Cleaning out the inbox

Our more than likely final Cleaning of the inbox starts with another reminder of anything that you would like me to answer about me, any hobby, sports etc for the upcoming Q and A.
I'll be doing that shortly after the new year.

We start with the World War I Christmas truce story that is often written about during the holidays.
I've scanned a few of these and this one from Britannica.com seems to be the best of the shorter reads on the topic.
The very unofficial truce between the British and the Germans (that didn't occur between the French and German) in 1914 was looked down upon by the military higher-ups after it was reported on after the fact and would never occur after that for the duration of the war.

The Atlantic also looks at World War I, but through the eyes of today with pictures of what the European battlefields look like today.
The pictures are quite beautiful and yet haunting- I would highly recommend taking a look and I'd go even further to say that if one had the rights to do so, it would make an excellent calendar for someone to circulate.

The New York Times food section writes of the sliding popularity of turkey brining over recent years.
Brining, which is basically salting the meat in various stages, was traditionally done in a wet manner and recently has begun to be more popular in a dry standard.
Many of the chefs questioned for the article even went as far to state their disdain for turkey, to which I give a resounding Boo.
Few things are more enjoyable than a turkey sandwich with mayo, lettuce and dill relish on white bread for this author.

Business Insider writes about the new Kindle Paperwhite.
As those that know me already know, I've been a carrier of the Kindle Fire until this spring when I moved to the IPad when the port would not charge the fire anymore.
Sidebar: If anyone out there is skilled in such things, I would still use the Kindle for reading should it be fixed.
The new version of the Paperwhite is an E-Reader only, which has its positives and negatives, but a battery that needs to be recharged in months, not days and is waterproof as well.
Rachel tells me that I don't need this, but the author of this article makes several excellent points on just what a fine addition the Paperwhite would be to my constant companion- my travel bag.

Thanks to Joe Plum for findig this, where Forbes notes a recent discovery of a bird that has a rare three species combination and its genetic pattern between a Brewster's Warbler (a species which began as a hybrid itself) and a Chestnut-Sided Warbler is one that has never been seen.
The article goes into far more detail than I will here on its genetic makeup, but it is interesting reading and it also discusses the likelihood of how the hybrid possibly could have been created and even the chances of it being able to (or a mate wanting to) reproduce.
The bird was captured and outfitted by a small band around its leg, so scientists can track the bird and its various adventures.

We wrap up with CBC's article on former Oilers and Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville, who is still coaching at the age of 77, but now for the first time in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Glanville, who is assisting his former assistant June Jones in Hamilton as he once did for the University of Hawaii, led the Ti-Cat defense to the Eastern Final, where they lost to Ottawa 46-27.
Glanville discusses his friendships with the late Burt Reynolds and Johnny Cash and chats about the differences between the NFL and CFL in pass coverages.

Cleaning out the inbox-Non-Sports Edition

We continue to work on that inbox and we move now to an all non-sports inbox, which is pretty popular from what I have been told!

We start with 13th Dimension's article on the 1970's comic- Batman Family, which was a favorite of mine then as a child.
The post talks a little bit about Batman Family and then a brief interview with Bob Rozakis, who did some of the writing for the book.
The comic was generally double-sized, so you received a great day for your fifty cents in mid-70's currency and it had stories from the various members of the Batman Family even down to the gimmick characters-like Bat-Mite!
I even had as a kid, the issue to the left, although it isn't in my collection today.
I also have a fond memory of a Superman Family comic that was a favorite of mine, before going away in a story that I'll tell one day IF three people would ask me to (that'll tell you who's reading this!), but I was a much bigger Batman fan than Superman even to this day.

Marc Maron's WTF podcast had a recent guest from "The Office" days as Jenna Fischer (Pam) did his show.
Fischer has a new book out (The Actor's Life), so she is doing lots of media work promoting the book.
Fischer's Pam Beesley Halpert was named the greatest female character in television history by my Fightheads partner Ramon Malpica on a recent episode which is extremely high praise!

Two goodbyes from the inbox.

Goodbye to astronaut Dick Gordon at the age of 88.
Gordon was a Gemini and Apollo astronaut and was the module pilot on Apollo 10, which is most widely thought of as the fun mission among the crews.
Gordon would have walked on the moon on Apollo 18, had the final two missions not been canceled by budget cuts to NASA.
Gordon also was involved in one of the strangest stories in sports as after his resignation from NASA, Gordon was hired as the general manager of the New Orleans Saints despite never having worked in football at any level.
I know fans under 30 have a hard time realizing this, but for the 70's and mid 80's the Saints were looked at in a very similar manner as fans look at the Browns today as they never had a winning record for the first twenty years of their existence and much of it was for reasons like hiring an astronaut to run football personnel operations.
Almost like hiring a beancounter without experience to do the same today.
The Saints would never win more than five games when Gordon was running the franchise.

Goodbye to the "Fight Doctor" Ferdie Pacheco at the age of 89.
Pacheco was part of the well-known team around Muhammad Ali as his doctor, but might be even better known as the color commentator on NBC boxing telecasts.
Pacheco also was the person in charge of making fights and buying them for NBC, which at the time of weekend boxing was known for having the smallest budget of the three networks.

Editor's Note: I have plans for posts soon on two more passings that happened in the last two days-Former Ohio State wide receiver Terry Glenn and David Cassidy of Partridge Family fame.

CNN writes of what it is like to visit Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow.
The former Soviet leader has been embalmed since his death in 1924 and it has been one of the tourist stops in Red Square ever since.
On occasion, it comes up to bury Lenin and it usually goes away after time.
I've always wondered just how much work that it takes to keep the corpse from deteriorating.

Esquire writes "You'll never love your E-Reader" and why records and books still have that advantage over the digital version.
The article is right about the loving the physical version and I still love having the physical copy, but I must admit to liking my Kindle and the ease of bringing so many books in one small container.
It's OK to like both.

As I read about E-Readers, Esquire had another article on the up's and down's of Vans Shoes, their history and why they are currently thriving.
My favorite pair of shoes ever were Vans and I only had the model once.

We had a Vans at the local outlet for a while and when they went out of business they were blowing out the inventory.
Ryan was at this store with our friend Joe Plum and saw these shoes.
They decided to take a chance and buy them for me and I loved them!
I still even have them still battered at the house and even though the lack of support that Vans have for us older folks-The Duke Kahanamoku Surf Shoe isn't made anymore, but if I was ever able to find a pair in size 13, I would jump on them-price permitting of course
My favorite shoe of all time-Thanks to Ryan and Joe!
I think I'll go cry now...