Resemblance?

Well, since the quiz was a notable bust (although Queen Karana got a near-perfect score), I figured I'll try something different. I'm not playing favorites here, it's just that the Big A's pics are what I'm working on right now. Here are two pictures. Both of these guys carry the name Singewald, and are descended from the Singewalds from Saxony (today's Germany). One is Bernard (pronounced BURR-nerd, not Ber-NARD) Singewald, and his picture was taken in 1914, 94 years ago. Am I the only one who sees any family resemblance here? Debbie thinks so... what do you think?

More Trivia... really trivial, too

The unidentified fellow in the chair from the Guess Who on February 15 isn't the Old Man with the radio in his car. The shoes are too modern, and the laptop case in front of the chair hadn't even been invented when the old man was that age. But... the man in the photo is the son of the old man's sister. Is there a family resemblance, perhaps?

Okay, let's continue with the trivia. Here are some photos of Soldier Boy, with some fun questions to test your memory and knowledge. Add a comment with your answers, -- by question number.

Question 1: Who lives here? (Hint: It isn't the good-looking guy in the photo.)

Question 2: What molecule is represented in the silver structure in the photo below? And in the same photo, Question 3: In what city is this funny-looking restaurant located? (yes, it's really a restaurant!) (Hints: the molecule isn't Uranium, and the city isn't Boise.)

Question 4: What movie is the scene below from? (well, actually, in the movie, it was Tom who was kneeling. (Hint: The movie isn't "The Mummy".)

The next four questions all pertain to the single photo below.

To dispel the myth that multiple-choice questions are easier to answer than fill-in-the-blank questions:

Question 5: When the fountains in the photo below were being built, what other event was taking place a few thousand miles away?

a. Juan Ponce de Leon was busy discovering the state he named "land of the flowers", circa 1513 -- a state where the guy in this picture was later born.

b. Benjamin Fordham was busy running his first brewery, in Annapolis, circa 1675 -- Old Ben was the 7th-great grandfather of the handsome hunk this photo.

c. Another fellow by the name of Tommy was inciting his peers to violence by writing a one-page document containing language critical of his King, circa 1776. Tommy lived in the same state where the fellow in the photo below spent most of his life.

d. The Singewalds, scholarly German ancestors of the studly man in the photo below, immigrated (legally) from Saxony to the new world, circa 1845.

e. The Tunguska explosion in Siberia was recorded by seismographs and barometers around the world, circa 1908. The father of the manly stud in the photo below possesses a mysterious rock that may have originated from a similar event.

Question 6: In the "main house" behind these fountains, is a famous hallway. What is the name of the famous hallway? (Hint: It isn't Jeff Hallway, Tammy Hallway, or Robin or Forrest Hallway, either.)

Question 7: What piece of paper was signed in that hallway? (Hint: it wasn't a UPS proof of delivery receipt.)

Question 8: What did that piece of paper put a stop to? (Hint: it wasn't oil drilling in Alaska.)

Question 9: What's the name of the guy without clothes?

And Question 10: What is the name of the island on which this church sits? (Hint: It isn't Isla de Muerta.)

Bonus Question: to the right of Quasimodo in the photo above you can see a line of bricks stretching back almost to the door of the church. At the end of the bricks is something that dates from the time of the Romans. What is it? Be specific. (Hint: modern day versions of these are found on Interstate Highways today... one per state per highway.)

Feb 16: Very Productive Day

Very productive.

Let's see. What I did today: I re-baited the trap to try to catch another blankety-blank groundhog. I poured the bucket of used kitty litter down the last remaining known groundhog hole. I swept my garage to get out the billions of leaves that had blown in under the door -- apparently in the last windstorm. I went around the yard and the lower 40 picking up all the dozens of tree limbs that came down in the ice storm and the windstorm. Then, the real work began.

I fixed the snowblower, replacing the shear pins that broke off on Daddy Bill's driveway last month (see post from January 17 below). I next fixed the self-propelled push mower, replacing the recoil starter cord system and spring mechanism that broke last fall. I changed the air filter in the lawn tractor and charged its battery. I tried to run all the gas engines to warm them up, got a blister from the pull cord on the weedwhacker and threw out my back pulling the cord on the generator. I ended up having to dismantle the weedwhacker and the generator carburetors to clean the orifices before they would start.

I finally got everything started, and let the engines run a while, then changed all the oil in *everything*. Being a gray-haired potbellied old man, it was really hard, lying on my belly, sideways, on my back, reaching under stuff, banging my knuckles when the pliers slip, having to hammer the wrenches to get stuck nuts and drain plugs and broken shear pins loose, skinning my hands when the screwdriver slips, slicing my knuckles on sharp snowblower augers, tilting the heavy tractor and generator to get the oil to run out properly, getting hot oil all over the cuts and skinned places on my hands, etc.

Aar, aar, aar. This is 'Real Man' stuff, not that pansy accounting stuff that I'm used to.

After getting all the repairs made and the oil changed, I made a quick trip over to the farm Co-op to get something called Sta-Bil to keep the snowblower carburetor from gunking up, and I'll use it in the generator gas again, even though it apparently didn't help last time.


I lugged out the heavy car ramps, and changed the oil and filter on the Camry. I refilled the washer reservoir, topped off the power steering fluid, and checked the coolant, brake fluid, and transmission fluid. The battery was low on liquid, so I made another quick trip, this time to the Super-Save, to get some distilled water, and topped off the battery. Did the same on the Caravan --oil and filter change, fluid checks, washer fluid and battery top-off, etc. except that the van needed a little transmission fluid. There is a leaky gasket on the van transmission, so I'll have to keep an eye on that).

Why can't Chrysler design their engines so you can get to the oil filter from the top, like the Toyotas? I hate it when I'm on my back under the car, and the hot oil runs down my arm while I'm unscrewing the darn oil filter on the Caravan....

Cleaned the tools, put them away (this took a lot longer than you'd think!), cut my hand one final time on a sharp edge of one of the ramps while putting it away, and poured all the used oil back into old oil jugs to take to Van's Garage next week.

Crawling around under cars gets harder and harder the older I get, and when I bang my head, it seems to hurt more. For some reason, the gritty lava hand soap wouldn't work, so I went to stake conference tonight with dirty nails and lots of band-aids, but I'm not sure anyone noticed.

I was going to change the oil in Allen's truck, but didn't have time, and I have no idea whether it needs it or not. I don't have a filter for his truck, anyway. I also didn't get around to replacing the chain on the chain saw, which was also on the to-do list for today.

Okay, so who are these people? Their heights, left to right, are: five foot eleven, six foot three, five foot five, and six foot seven and still growing... (he has to duck to get in through the front door.) Hint: Photo taken November 2007 and yes, the geraniums were still blooming in November because of the location.
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Guess Who?

Okay, two can play the game. Who is this a picture of?

Some of you will know, others will never have seen him before.

No fair checking the comments to see what others are guessing! Come up with your own guess first. Who does he look like?

Next, can you guess when and where this picture was taken?

Click on the pic for a larger version to better identify his face.

If you know for sure that you know him, then answer this: what is hanging on the OPPOSITE side of the wall which is immediately BEHIND the cameraman?

Feb 1: Ice Storm

Here are some pics of the ice storm we had on Friday, February 1. It wasn't bad, but did coat everything with about a quarter inch of ice. Once the sun came out, everything sparkled. The pictures don't do justice to the sparkle. Click on the pictures below to see the larger version on which you can see the ice coating a little better.