research and other wanderings - see my website! There are comics and a store and everything: Hark! A Vagrant

History is cool. →

The pistol, a fine, expensive weapon, had functioned perfectly. The trigger freed the cocked hammer from its tension spring. The hammer snapped forward, striking the copper percussion cap resting over the hollow steel nipple mounted on the barrel. The resulting spark flashed into the chamber,…

Yes!  You should read Manhunt, if you haven’t.  We know everything about Lincoln’s assassination, and yet the moment by moment retelling is edge of the seat stuff.

(Source: adamconover, via adamconover)

I was reminded of having done an interview over at the Sound of Young America with Jesse Thorn, back when my book came out.  

There was so much hubbub then that the interviews/travel felt like a whirlwind, so it’s nice at this point to appreciate how many genuinely cool things I got to do at that time.  Jesse is pretty great!

trendgraphy:
“ Winter Is Coming by Zach Graham
”
I won’t lie, this gets me right in my red and white Canuck heart

trendgraphy:

Winter Is Coming by Zach Graham

I won’t lie, this gets me right in my red and white Canuck heart

(Source: graphicdesignblg, via graphicdesignblg)

r-dart:
“ Oh yeah, drawing. It’s fun!
”

r-dart:

Oh yeah, drawing. It’s fun!

gonna build a big ol’ palace I think

sultry?

sultry?

Good coffee, bad customer. I’m sorry, world

Good coffee, bad customer.  I’m sorry, world

come to the library where learning is fun

come to the library where learning is fun

Tumblr Staff: In a matter of hours on Friday, Typhoon Haiyan completely devastated... →

staff:

In a matter of hours on Friday, Typhoon Haiyan completely devastated parts of the central Philippines. It was one of the strongest storms ever recorded. The death toll is estimated up to 10,000 with hundreds of thousands more displaced. The country has declared a “state of calamity.”

To all our…

about as easy as it gets to donate, right?

Click on that picture and look at the rest of the pictures and fall in love, I dare you not to.

Click on that picture and look at the rest of the pictures and fall in love, I dare you not to.

(via dyingofcute)

Hey everyone! Oh my gosh, hooray- my new shirts are live for pre-order at the Topatoco store! Check them out, and the many other fine wares sold by my friends! I’ll let you know when they are ready to go ASAP also. Click through, as always.
Shirts!...

Hey everyone!  Oh my gosh, hooray- my new shirts are live for pre-order at the Topatoco store!  Check them out, and the many other fine wares sold by my friends!  I’ll let you know when they are ready to go ASAP also.  Click through, as always.

Shirts!  You put ‘em on your torso.

A couple of months ago I went through a break-up and met a border guard, a pillar of humanity who has seen this exact thing, I am assuming: So Very Many Times.
haha it’s all good now but when it happened I thought “well I’m going to draw this...

A couple of months ago I went through a break-up and met a border guard, a pillar of humanity who has seen this exact thing, I am assuming: So Very Many Times.

haha it’s all good now but when it happened I thought “well I’m going to draw this sometime.”  Thanks United States/Canada Border services! 

benito-cereno:
“ St. Guinefort
Speaking of dogs:
In the 13th century in France, a dog named Guinefort was venerated as a saint. Locals would travel to his grave, where they claimed miracles would occur, especially over infants.
The legend went as...

benito-cereno:

St. Guinefort

Speaking of dogs:

In the 13th century in France, a dog named Guinefort was venerated as a saint. Locals would travel to his grave, where they claimed miracles would occur, especially over infants.

The legend went as follows:

A certain knight left his infant son in the care of his greyhound Guinefort while he went hunting. When he returned, he found the child’s cot overturned, the dog and room smeared with blood, and the child nowhere to be found. Enraged that his previously loyal hound had eaten his only child, the knight drew his sword and slew Guinefort on the spot. Immediately thereafter, the knight’s wife turned the cot back over, only to find the child laughing and unharmed, and the bloody corpse of a viper lying next to him.

The knight repented of having killed such a loyal friend and lowered the dog’s body into a well, which he filled in with rocks and converted into a shrine. When the people heard the story, they called the dog a martyr and venerated him as a saint who performed healing miracles, particularly among young children.

(This tale is very similar to the story of the Welsh hound Gelert, except with a wolf instead of a snake, and the added detail that the dog’s owner—Llewellyn the Great—was forever haunted by the dying yelp of the dog and never smiled again.)

Guinefort was never recognized as an official saint, and the church tried to suppress his cult. In fact, the inquisitor Stephen of Bourbon was SO MAD at the idea that someone would say a dog could be a saint, he made it clear that the cult of Guinefort was IN FACT a secret devil-worshiping operation and all babies that were allegedly healed by a dog’s ghost were actually eaten by Satan. He had the shrine destroyed and the body and relics of Guinefort burned for heresy.

To reiterate: under church law, it is impossible for a dog to be a saint; one can, however, be a heretic.

Despite the efforts of killjoys like Stephen of Bourbon, the cult of Guinefort lasted for centuries, well into the 1930s.

As far as I know, there have been no other dog saints. Except for Saint Christopher, of course, who we all know was half dog.

vintagephotos18:
“ Portrait drawing of Jasta 11 pilots by Arnold Busch, July 1917.
”
beautiful drawings

vintagephotos18:

Portrait drawing of Jasta 11 pilots by Arnold Busch, July 1917.

beautiful drawings

(via roses-and-railways)

Hello my name is Kate, welcome to Canada, I’ll be your guide

Hello my name is Kate, welcome to Canada, I’ll be your guide