“FOR OUR MATCHLESS FRIENDS”
Next post: Rant0Matic: On Karens by Tom Luongo
Previous post: Okay…. here’s the plan!
WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Welcome to the New American Digest: 2001-2022
Mailing Address for the Blue Planet
Gerard Van der LeunWelcome to 20 Years of American Digest 2001 – 2022
Your Say
- chuckie on Gerard and Olive
- chuckie on Gerard Vanderleun: December 26, 1945 – January 27, 2023
- chuckie on Gerard Vanderleun: December 26, 1945 – January 27, 2023
- Joe Krill on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Steve on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Dgdavis on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Juliann on Gerard Vanderleun: December 26, 1945 – January 27, 2023
- Tom Hyland on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Nori on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- theduchessofkitty on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Gagdad Bob on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- David Spence on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Tom Hyland on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
- Big Country Expat on The Name in the Stone @ The New American Digest
- Nori on LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road
My Back Pages
- The Name in the Stone @ The New American Digest January 28, 2023
- LAST POST: So Long. See You All a Little Further Down the Road January 28, 2023
- Gerard and Olive January 28, 2023
- Gerard Vanderleun: December 26, 1945 – January 27, 2023 January 27, 2023
- The news on Gerard so far January 26, 2023
- On Gerard January 22, 2023
- A message from Gerard January 19, 2023
- They are still testing January 18, 2023
- More from the updater January 14, 2023
- Progress report January 11, 2023
- Update to the update January 9, 2023
- STILL (ALMOST) STANDING January 6, 2023
- Good news January 4, 2023
- Update January 2, 2023
- Dispatches #3 December 30, 2022
- Subpoena? Subpoena Myass! December 29, 2022
- Noted in Passing: A Good Walk Spoiled December 29, 2022
- Monkey in a Box: Best long read of the year so far December 29, 2022
- Long Read of the Day: What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble’s Surprising Turnaround? December 28, 2022
- The Centenarian: Arthur Warner McNair December 28, 2022
Search American Digest’s Back Pages
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
reach my hands and play with pebbles of
destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
The Vault
- January 2023 (14)
- December 2022 (77)
- November 2022 (65)
- October 2022 (63)
- September 2022 (76)
- August 2022 (106)
- July 2022 (128)
- June 2022 (117)
- May 2022 (122)
- April 2022 (115)
- March 2022 (121)
- February 2022 (88)
- January 2022 (107)
- December 2021 (78)
- November 2021 (67)
- October 2021 (89)
- September 2021 (73)
- August 2021 (106)
- July 2021 (90)
- June 2021 (67)
- May 2021 (69)
- April 2021 (61)
- March 2021 (59)
- February 2021 (47)
- January 2021 (51)
- December 2020 (50)
- November 2020 (57)
- October 2020 (113)
- September 2020 (112)
- August 2020 (120)
- July 2020 (108)
- June 2020 (108)
- May 2020 (97)
- April 2020 (98)
- March 2020 (111)
- February 2020 (81)
- January 2020 (73)
- December 2019 (61)
- November 2019 (56)
- October 2019 (77)
- September 2019 (65)
- August 2019 (69)
- July 2019 (48)
- June 2019 (48)
- May 2019 (47)
- April 2019 (41)
- March 2019 (41)
- February 2019 (54)
- January 2019 (44)
- December 2018 (8)
- November 2018 (25)
- October 2018 (60)
- September 2018 (60)
- August 2018 (60)
- July 2018 (78)
- June 2018 (68)
- May 2018 (68)
- April 2018 (51)
- March 2018 (62)
- February 2018 (60)
- January 2018 (50)
- December 2017 (46)
- November 2017 (50)
- October 2017 (52)
- September 2017 (64)
- August 2017 (67)
- July 2017 (61)
- June 2017 (20)
- June 2012 (1)
Take It Where You Find It
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Comments on this entry are closed.
An awful lot of work to get 12″ off the ground.
Matches have a crappy energy-density.
Seven hundred fifty hours of meticulous toil to produce that prodigiously sulphurous squib. Can’t wait to see further consequences of the cabin fever & boredom induced by the Chinese Virus shelter-in-place/stay-at-home regime.
Matchless. Ha ha.
Yeah, he doesn’t have a girlfriend.
Walmart’s best price on wooden matches is $10.50 (free shipping) for 1000, so 1,000,000 would be about $10,500.00 right?
He gets a 10 for execution but a rather disappointing 2 or maybe 3 for performance.
Kinda’ underwhelming.
He could have made a hell of a pipe bomb with all that, and it would have made a big ass BOOM. Maybe even destroyed something useless.
JWM
The video of cats starting a falling dominoes chain reaction was a lot more entertaining, IMHO, and a lot less likely to bring the local firefighters to show up on your doorstep.
First thought was where did he get the black-headed matches?
My primitive cave stocks what is available:red-headed ones.
Bit of research reveals match heads come in the whole crayon box of colors.
Who knew??
Grandparents,probably.
A+ to MatchGuy for effort,and good video. Those prodigious sulphurous fumes made my eyes & nose water…
Ghost,
He probably ordered them in bulk for a better price. Shipped direct from Wuhan.
E for effort… F for results. Proving once again that some people just have way too much time on their hands.
The patience of Renfield, only with matches.
Spectacular, but it sure didn’t get far. Hope he was satisfied, but my reaction was “is that all?”
Back in high school, I used matchstick heads to power CO2 cartridge rockets; they’d go like the blazes for a half mile or so. They worked so well that soon I was gifted by two visitors: one from the Police Dept. and the other from the Fire Dept. For some reason they wanted to talk to my parents!
Their timing wasn’t too good though- they arrived just as the Boy Scouts Council was meeting in my living room. For a while there I was the talk of the town!