The Cartel invites you to salute a very brave Son of the Motherland.



On this date, 57 years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the "first man in space" as he strapped himself into the Vostok 1 rocket and took a little trip where "no man had gone before". You'll notice the quotations. There is ample evidence to suggest that Yuri was not actually the first man in space, but rather, the first to come back from space. It is likely the Soviets had shot a couple of others out there during the 7 pre-Yuri attempts. We know they killed a few dogs, but probably also a person or two. Had to beat the Americans, you know.

If, indeed, that is the case, then Yuri become an even braver (or just crazier) figure for strapping in where no one had survived before. Another interesting point - they didn't notify Kruschev of the launch until AFTER they had Yuri back safe. They clearly didn't want to face the repercussions of a failure.

Yuri would show his courage again at the launch of the doomed Soyuz 1 in 1967 (for which my crappy Russian razor is named). Vladimir Komarov was the scheduled cosmonaut but everyone knew the mission would be a disaster. They had over 200 problems with the systems aboard the Soyuz 1 and launched anyway in an attempt to keep up with the Americans who were quickly reaching the moon. Yuri was good friends with Vladimir and tried to have the launch cancelled, tried to talk Vladimir into letting him take his place, and even showed up at the launch demanding he be allowed to go in place of Vladimir. Vladimir, however, knowing the importance of Yuri to the Soviet program, refused to let Yuri take his place. That would be the last time they would stand together as Vladimir died in a spectacularly explosive and disastrous reentry. They found a portion of his ankle bone.

So, here's to Yuri! A man with more courage than most of us put together, and through his actions, helped push the American program into high gear. Once he survived the flight, we knew we were behind. Panic and envy are good motivators!

That kind of courage should always be remembered!

Thank you!

Looks like a catalog...nice shot!

@KenH - welcome to our little corner of the Internet!

Trapped in a world bogged down by VietNam and economic changes, many Americans have never heard how far ahead the CCCP was in the early days of the Cold War Space and Propaganda Race. This really frightened D.C., because the tech needed to orbit the earth is also readily convertible in to ICBM nuke hardware.

Catch up post on my last three shaves. Sorry, it will be a bit of a novel.

Monday and Wednesday both used my birth quarter razor using a blade from the 80s. For science. My second shave with the black beauty was at setting 7, and was a solid DFS on three passes. Wednesday I bumped it up to setting Neal and let ‘er rip. Three pass DFS, with only a few weepers. I think when I get this razor out next, I will try it at setting 8, and see if that is my sweet spot. The vintage blade performed way better than I thought it would.

I used my new PAA ATG soap on Monday, but got back to my targeted for elimination soap on Wednesday and Friday. While I like the performance of the Black Ship Grooming Co soap, I’m honestly sick of the scent. I saw the bottom of the container today, so it’s probably got less than ten shaves left in it. At this point I just want to kill the soap off. Not shave related, anyone on here use shampoo bars from artisan soap makers? Stirling sent me a sample, and I will be getting more. Got this one from PAA, love the scent. Interestingly, I have been using dandruff shampoo my whole adult life. Using the artisan bars, I’m not needing it. Anyone else experience that?

So, back to my rule with the shavette from Chris for Friday’s shave. Wait, no. On Thursday Mrs. Gulch was cruising Target and a saw the Bevel Shave System on the clearance shelf for 22 bucks. She bought it for me, after a bit of internet searching while in the store. Made her realize that DEs create much less waste, so she also asked about trying one. Whoo hoo, that only took four years! Shave with the Bevel razor and a new Feather blade was really good. Two passes, and just shy of a BBS. It’s a very heavy razor with a medium exposure level, and is very efficient. Not as long lasting a shave as what I can get with setting Neal on an adjustable, but a very good result. For 22 bucks well worth the money. Two more shaves and I will get back to my rule, until I get distracted by the next shiny thing…

It was the best of shaves....it was the worst of shaves.

Or perhaps.....

It was a dark and stormy shave.

Beautiful photo, Clint! Was actually in a C&E outlet store this past week. Bought some Sandalwood bar soap. Love the scent. They had shave soaps for 1/2 price. It was easy to shrug and walk away- because of the NB, and because the shave soap version doesn’t actually lather...

Enjoy your event tonight, Jim!

Sounds like a long week, Perry. The weekend is near!

Some great looking set ups, Adam. Mrs. Gulch and her infamous ‘you bought another razor’ meme-inspiring glare is trying a DE? Awesome!

Years ago I heard about a writing contest to come up with the opening line for the worst of all possible novels. It was unofficially called the dark and stormy award. One of my favorite entries was,
"It was well after midnight before we finished scraping what was left of Uncle Harry off the living room ceiling."

Ok. And..........now you have me hooked!

Sorry, they only accept opening lines. You'll have to use your imagination.

My favourite was: "On the seventh day, the camel died, and Selena, moodily buffing her nails, wondered if this trip too was going to degenerate into yet another series of meaningless vignettes as all her travels with Basil seemed to do."

Boar break-in break. Back to Badger.

How was it?

Thank you!

"It was well after midnight before we finished scraping what was left of Uncle Harry off the living room ceiling." - The explosion had caught us off guard, coming from just one bottle of Schlafly as it had. It was a simultaneous explosion of two Bud Light bottles that had sent Aunt Harriet to the next realm, and the mess was considerably less.

There, that's my contribution.

It's called the Bulwer Lytton Contest. http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

I remember that because the main character in a really funny mystery series (a liturgical mystery series at that) is a church music director who also fancies himself as a writer, but his writing is awful. He buys Raymond Chandler's typewriter at auction and tries to write mysteries but fails miserably. The Bulwer Lytton contest is mentioned in the books.

The first book in the series is The Alto Wore Tweed. Funny, funny book.


The author, Mark Schweizer, is a friend of one of my music buddies in town, and so I got to meet him a few years back and had some beers with him. Hilarious guy.

GD is one of my favorite soaps, and absolutely a top tier performer. The scents are unique and like B&M, they can take several shaves to determine if you like or hate them. I haven’t decided on this one yet. It’s a citrusy (as opposed to powdery) type barbershop with a good dose of burnt tree rosin smell. Not smoky like a campfire at all (which I wouldn’t like), but I’m not sure I’m fully on board with the burned rosin vibe. If I ultimately trade out the scent, it’d almost definitely be for another GD soap, as this stuff just plain rocks!

It's doesn't really matter where I left my pants, upon introspection-- the Bigger question is who booked these tickets to Mexico?