A Panorama

This weekend Melanie and drove up to Salisbury, NC to visit a book store because that is how we roll. Downtown Salisbury was a pleasant surprise. The old downtown area is still intact, lot of old buildings with character and inside those buildings there are local businesses. Imagine that. We will definitely go back when the weather gets cooler. We saw about three places you can sit outside and eat. Salisbury is only an hour from our driveway and it is just far enough away to allow you to break the grip of Charlotte. Sometimes you just have to get out of town, you know?

Just down the street from the downtown area is a business called Salisbury Motor Company. It was established in 1919 and is supposedly still owned by the same family. The exterior looks a lot like it must have when the building opened. It has a corner window display area for automobiles. It was a nice surprise on our short journey.

Some Things go Better with Swearing

Weather is not climate, you willfully ignorant fucksticks. MT @foxnation: Climate Doesn’t Cooperate With Al Gore http://t.co/QKe0PkyYQK

— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) July 31, 2014

Jack White Goes to a Tigers Game

From what I saw on social media tonight, Jack White was at the Detroit Tigers game. Here is poses with the TV broadcast team.



Here he is throwing out the first pitch. Ball one. Insert joke about Jack White as a pitcher is a heck of a guitar player.



And here is Jack in a selfie taken by the Tigers mascot. OK, that's a little weird.

#PAWSSelfie with Jack White and Santa!! 🎅 pic.twitter.com/lema1KQY3x

— PAWS (@PAWSDetroit) July 29, 2014

A photo essay on the Mlive website here

Japan is a Weird Place and Korea is Weirder

Knowing Your Business

Nothing says, "I work in weather" like planning your vacation around hurricane season.

Time now for some vacay before the heart of hurricane season!

— Stephanie Abrams (@StephanieAbrams) July 18, 2014

Lightning Scares Locals

Yesterday I caught lightning with a camera for the third time. It's not spectacular but there it is. Maybe someday I'll photograph a tornado. Or a ghost. Or a ghost tornado piloted by Elvis.

Valle Crucis Dandelions

Back in May e were in the mountains for a graduation. We stopped by Valley Crucis Communty Park on the day we left. It was a beautiful day in one of the most beautiful spots in the world. There were dandelions.

A field of dandelions

Best Joke about Germany's Blowout of Brazil

The secret to a good Nazi joke is not to say the word "Nazi."

The Germans are dominating so much, Austria is now beating Brazil 2-0. #worldcup

— The Sklar Brothers (@SklarBrothers) July 8, 2014

Ricky Gervais sent out this one. Nice.

This won't be the first time that thousands of Germans will have to lie low in Brazil for a while for their own safety.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 8, 2014

Flying Motorcycles

Another sight I saw at Darlington during race weekend was dirt bikes jumping high in the air. The Monster Energy drink company had a truck set up with a ramp at each end. Daredevils on motorcycles were jumping the bikes up and over the truck. they must have been getting a good thirty feet in the air. As they soared over the truck they did tricks. The usual tricks you see during X-Games types of competition. What impressed me was how casually these riders were going about their business. There were probably about five of them and each rider would rev his cycle up, pop up the steep ramp, do a quick trick and land smoothly on the opposite ramp. Over and over for about 20 minutes. No one wiped out, not even close. They made something amazing look ordinary and easy. It was initially thrilling and then ordinary and then even more thrilling when you thought about it.

Warrior Cops

I saw this monstrosity on display while at the Southern 500 at Darlington in April. The militarization of our police is getting out of hand.