Tom Faranda's Folly

A few days ago. Tim is turning into a rock/boulder. Picture courtesy of my friend Joe – a little exaggeration …  

95 years old. McHale’s Navy was a staple in our house. And it’s still on cable. Borgnine won the Best Oscar award in 1955 playing the shy and lovesick butcher in Marty. He was seriously good in that! And a dose of McHale and the other players  

Really quite good article, toatla of 17 paragraphs. The author, Thomas Fleming, is former President of the Society of American Historians. Almost every American knows the traditional story of July Fourth—the soaring idealism of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress's grim pledge to defy the world's most powerful nation with their lives, their fortunes … Read more

Tim and I, and his friend Liam went to see the Phantom production in May - they did it for extra credit, and I did it because long ago I did the spotlight work … Here's what I'd posted on May 7th. Stepinac production of "Phantom of the Opera" – and quoting myself; Sorry alumni, this … Read more

That’s 355 lbs. 20 more then his previous PR. He could have gone higher and wanted to try – but I wouldn’t let him. His knee injury set him way back on squatting, but now he’s back in the groove. Here’s what one side of 355 looks like. That’s two 5’s, a 10, and three … Read more

The Magnificat prayer book, which I have subscription to. They sent me this nice Father’s Day picture –  

That’s right! And she was able to build a worldwide Catholic communications network (with the help of many members of the laity) despite that.  With thanks to Ed Mechmann for sending me this blog posting by author and columnist Amy Welborn. … so I was thinking about all the virtual ink that’s been spilled, tears … Read more

UPDATE: Here's the NY Times feature on the cave art & is better and more comprehensive then the original article below – With Science, New Portrait of the Cave Artist This is cool. It's a short article, so hit the link (the Neanderthals have gotten a bad press in the last few years!). Spanish cave … Read more

This is pretty good, and not very long. It starts with a brief comment on an attack by a physicist on the views of a philosopher (who himself has a Ph.D in physics!) who had reviewed the physicist's book. And then goes on from there with a brief and breezy commentary on the relationship between … Read more

A medic on Omaha Beach & a paratrooper recall the day. Friedenberg was just 22 when he took part in the storied invasion of Normandy, hitting Omaha Beach with the 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, or “The Big Red One” on June 6, 1944. Moments after reaching the heavily-fortified French coastline, and as … Read more