• Johnson County,KS: Then and Now

    I  had an idea for this post for some time and what could be a better day to do this when Kansas City is swirling with football news (it’s like someone was just waiting for years to pull the trigger and update Wikipedia) and it’s cold as hell (and I know cold) so I am not about to go outside to snap some photos.

    Looks like Kansas School for the Deaf – the birthplace of the football huddle maintains the most complete set of annual pictures of their football team. In today’s issue I will post some photos to trace the evolution of their uniforms (yes, there is evolution in Kansas, you just have to know where to look).

    Note: I took a shortcut here and bypassed lots of uploading/linking, so all the photos link back to the search results.

    1899

    1899

    1900

    1900

    1901

    1901

    1911

    1911

    1914

    1914

    1919

    1919

    1927

    1927

    1931

    1931

    1946

    1946

    1948

    1948

    1952

    1952

    1961

    1961

    1968

    1968

    1982

    1982

    2006

    2006

    This look at the past was brought to you by the Kansas City Lunch Spots : Celebrating 100’s meaningful post.
    Also sponsored by: The Weather: It’s Frightful
    Additional financing by: My Job: I am still employed!

    Previous posts here.

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  • Pickle-Minder

    This is the time of the year when the right kind of cucumbers is available at the City Market and elsewhere to make pickles.



    If you buy too much old dill just hang the leftovers in a dry place, it will dry up nicely and will be usable later on.
    While you are at the market make sure to pick up a case of mangoes at the Little Saigon on 3rd and Grand.

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  • Ronald Reagan Tells Soviet Jokes

    I can testify that some of these jokes are pretty authentic. I grew up at a time when nothing like this would ever show up in print and people almost whispered these, as we called them, anecdotes to each other at home, at work or at school. Later on, thousands of these jokes were published in books and on the internet but the spice was gone, although some still remain pretty funny.

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN3z3eSVG7A

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjv082CPz9g

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  • Old Photos: Revolution Parade In The Red Square

    If you are a long-time follower of this blog, I am sure you already know that today is the day to fly your red flag to celebrate another anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution – a holiday no longer celebrated in Russia where people for some reason blame it for 70 years of crappy life. I am not going to repeat my previous posts on the subject, so this year we will celebrate with another batch of old photos taken at the Moscow’s Red Square on this day in 1962.

    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman

    On this photo we see the current leadership of the USSR – Comrade Khrushchev is the 5th from the right next to Comrade Brezhnev. In a few years, acting exclusively in the interest of saving Comrade Khrushchev’s health Comrade Brezhnev will replace him while he will be away on vacation.

    These people are happy, just imagine their faces when they are not.

    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman

    Remember spending some quality time in a bomb shelter? That’s why…

    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman
    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman
    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman
    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman

    Vostok-4.

    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman
    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman
    © Time Inc. Stan Wayman© Time Inc. Stan Wayman

     

    The rest of the photos is here.

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  • There, I Fixed It!: Kansas City Style

    Citizen journalism in this town is celebrating a huge victory and I am here to take all the credit. My recent ground-breaking report on a possible contender for the biggest pothole in the State of Missouri sent seismic waves through the City Hall and the solution came swiftly – a bigger barrier.

    Parts of the previous orange obstacle that weren’t swallowed by the pothole were recycled…

    …and replaced with the state-of-the-art early warning system.

    City geologists used the circular cracks around the barrier to size up a new commemorative steel plate which will be placed over the pothole in the near future.

    The City Council ordered the City Attorney to draft a letter to BP demanding reimbursement for the repairs (mostly for the barricade) since the appearance of the pothole is directly related to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

    On behalf of myself and many residents of the nearby property tax-free building I’d like to thank the City for paying attention and quick decisive action.

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