Dog Urine Makes for Better Sunglasses!

The polarizing filter was invented by Dr. Edwin Land between his Freshman and Sophmore years at Harvard. 

It seems Land came across the the work of Dr. William Herapath who, back in 1852, had a pupil by the name of Phelps who discovered that if you fed a dog iodine and quinine, it caused it’s urine to form strange green crystals which polarized light. 

Now, I will set aside the obvious question like: "Phelps, what the hell were you doing feeding that dog iodine and quinine, and why have you been looking through its pee crystals at the sunlight?" Some questions, I have decided, you really do not want to know the answer to! 

In any case, it seems Dr. Herapath named the iodoquinine sulfate crystals after himself (about par for the course, eh?) and after spending several years trying to grow a really large crystal of "Herapathite" (no doubt by using a really big dog), he gave up on the project. 

Land, decided to try a different tack, and in 1929, he invented a way to take many small crystals of Herapathite, embed them in transparent nitrocellulose polymer film, and get them to line up by using magnets. The result was a film that polarized light. The first polarizing sunglasses were born! 

Later, a shortage of quinine led Land to develop an alternative method of making polarizing lenses using sheets of a polyvinyl alcohol. 

Edwin Land, of course, went on to make the Polaroid camera. Polaroids, of course, have already been tossed on to the ash tip of history -- made obsolete by the rise of digital photography. However polaroid lenses -- and their dog-urine steeped history -- live on! And without sunglasses, would we have had Wayfarers? And without Wayfarer sunglasses, would we have the Blue Brothers? I think not!

Johnny Cash (Live) :: Five Feet High And Rising

Emi Sunshine :: As The Waters Rise

If your name is Emi Sunshine, you better bring it. She does.

Sergeant's: A Pet Company Named After a Dog

A repost from this blog circa March 2009.

Here's a bit of Virginia trivia: Sergeant's pet products -- the company most famous for its line of flea collars -- was founded in 1868 in Virginia by a pharmacist by the name of Polk Miller who created a line of skin and coat remedies. "Sergeant" was the name of Miller's favorite hunting dog.

Some of Polk's earliest creations were “Condition Pills,” along with mange medicine, flea shampoo, dog vitamins, and canine wormers.

A smart salesman, Miller sponsored a small part of Commander Richard Byrd's expedition to the South Pole -- an expedition which included a large number of Huskies and a Jack Russell terrier by the name of Igloo. By 2007, Sergeant's was selling over 400 pet care products.

What most people don't know is the founder of Sergeant's was not just a pharmacist -- he was also one of the most progressive band leaders of his time, touring with black musicians playing southern "plantation songs."

It is important to place Miller in his time and place. Polk was born in 1844, grew up on a Virginia plantation, and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

And yet, even before the Civil War, Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette toured and played music on stage as a fully integrated band (albeit with Miller as band-leader and the black musicians considered employees).

Miller’s musical business was a real success, both commercially and critically, and he even played Madison Square Garden where he was introduced by Mark Twain!

Miller always maintained that his job was not just to play music and entertain, but also to educate his audience and present a historical record of a type of music that was quickly fading away.

Miller was age 65 in 1909, when he and the Quartette made their only recording session for the Edison recording company. Miller plays banjo on every song, but only sings on four, one of which is “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” a Confederate battle song. Want to hear a little of it? You can! Just click here or buy Polk Miller's "latest" album here.

Polk Miller died on October 20, 1913. He is buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.

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Willie Nelson :: Gravedigger

Willie Nelson is 80 years old today

This is Willie Nelson singing the Dave Matthews song Gravedigger. Play this one at my funeral.
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Badger Theremin

What the hell is a Theremin?

A Theremin is an odd electronic musical instrument that makes eery undulating noises without any apparent contact from the "player" who changes the tones of the instrument by simply moving his or her hands closer or father away from two antenna receivers. Named after Russian inventor Léon Theremin, the machine was patented in 1928 and it has never been very popular as sounds cannot be well controlled. Think "playing the saw" in electronic form, and you have the right idea.

Below we see a Theremin placed in the echo chamber of a taxidermy badger.

Why? Why not!

Mary Chapin Carpenter :: Come On Come On

video url

Down the River Road is not a metaphor. River Road is a real road.  Mary Chapin Carpenter used to live in the D.C. area near me.  I drive down the River Road quite a lot when I go hunting.

Back about 13 or 14 years before this song was recorded at Wolftrap, Mary Chapin Carpenter would perform for beer money at Food For Thought on Connecticut Avenue, and I was a $5 and $10 tipper when she passed the hat. I remember her well as I thought I was being extraordinarily generous with my money considering that $10 back then could buy two pitchers of Tuborg beer, and I was making less money than the receptionist in my office. 
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Attaboy :: Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Thile

Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Stuart Duncan & Edgar Meyer play "Attaboy" from The Goat Rodeo Sessions.  Hat tip to Andrew Campbell for posting this to FB..
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And a Sign That Said 'Closed on Thanksgiving'

For your listening and remembering pleasure.
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Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and John Wayne

This is from Rio Bravo, which came out in 1959. I have only seen it on TV, but it has this great segment with Dean Martin singing, Ricky Nelson playing, John Wayne listening, and Walter Brennan on harmonica. Beat that!
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Mystery Train :: Vince Gill and Friends

Vince Gill on vocals with Keb Mo, Albert Lee, James Burton, and Earl Klugh providing some smoking tracks at Crossroads in Chicago. 
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Pheasant Plucker's Song

The Suburban Bushwacker has a nice bit on the Pheasant Pluckers song, but we have audio-video!


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Nick Kwas Makes Violin Super Cool

This is not just talent, it is joy.  Not a one-off either.  When I see abilities like this I am reminded what a great country this is with rivers of talent, dedication, and hard work running through it.  Yeah, the kids are alright!
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Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens

This was first recorded by Louis Jordan in 1956, but this is a pretty fine job by a group called "Guy e gli Specialisti" from Italy ("Guy and the Specialists").  Nice video too, complete with Jack Russell Terrier (of course!). In fact, a dog named Jack is a main character in this song, though he seems to be loss in this truncated version.Full original lyrics here:

Now Farmer brown lit his corn cobbed pipe
he looked down at his trusty dog
and he said, "Hey id the chickens said they alright
they are alright.
Let's head back to the shack Jack". But the dog wasn't
convinced, he said "Go back to the henhouse" gave a
little doggy knock and in his best chickenese said
"Is everything alright?"

And so it goes. Humans are gullibles. Dogs know. Especially Jacks.
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Johnny Cash :: Two Views of Folsom

The last bit of the second video is the saddest story I heard this week. A small thing, I suppose, but a big deal as a lifetime loser always loses because of an inability to delay gratification. A bag of M&M's for a lifetime of regret.
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I Like Black Coffee With My Humble Pie

Humble Pie with the Blackberries, who were three of the best studio singers in the business and had backed Tina Turner as "The Ikettes" and Ray Charles as "The Raelettes." 

Steve Marriott singing.  This is the group after Clem Clempson replaced Peter Frampton. 

Marriott died in 1991 in a house fire associated with cigarettes and booze. 
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The Jack Russell Song

The song is by Nashville tunesmith and singer Mary Ann Kennedy, and can be purchased here on the "Who Saved Who?" album.  She spells the name 'Jack Russel," but who are we to argue?  This is a nice little song by a talented songwriter, and it's also available as a 99-cent download on Itunes.
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Dog Trumpet :: Slow Down

Wikipedia says:

Dog Trumpet is an Australian rock band, formed by brothers Peter O'Doherty and Reg Mombassa (aka Chris O'Doherty). Both Mombassa and O'Doherty were founder members of the iconic Australian band Mental as Anything, and they formed Dog Trumpet as an outlet for their original material.

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Darwin Day is February 12th

Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

Let us prey.

This little ditty will be featured in the hymnal of the First Church of Field and Stream, as soon as we get around to writing a hymnal.
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Up To The Mountain :: Patti Griffin

Patti Griffin wrote this song and performs it here.
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