Weekend Open Thread
The middle day of the Roman calendar was referred to as “ides“. Idus was the plural term for ides. The Romans had this day as when debts and interests were settled. This was the “due date” for these payments. Enjoy your weekend!
Category: Open thread
First!
Missed it by one second.
My Man. CW for the win…AGAIN! 2 seconds. And the FIRST by only 0ne (1) second. May a Kong Rat take the taste of Lois Lane out of your mouth.
That’s 6.
Gotdamn, I’m in the presence of greatness and also top 15.
CW RULZ!!!
Oh, all knowing and wise Magic 8-Ball, it has been so long since Hack Stone was bestowed the highly coveted and rarely awarded First Comment for The Weekend Open Thread, will his fortune change for the March 15, 2024 Weekend Open Thread? Magic 8-Ball says…
Magic 8-Ball says six in a row for the Commish, it appears.
Looks like the only way that Hack Stone can regain the throne and crown is to head back to the UK. That four hour time zone difference gave Hack the edge that he desperately needed. Unless Meghan Markel gets her claws into him, then it’s back to selling Red Hat Software door to door in Bethesda.
Poor Meghan. She’s just misunderstood.
Denied, again. Oh, well, it is a holiday weekend, and on observance, Psul af The Ballsack will be pulling his lime green leisure suit from the combo garbage/suitcase and proudly strutting along Wisconsin Avenue selling outdated and overpriced Red Hat Software to pedestrians.
Oh, all knowing and wise Magic 8-Ball, is The False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) still a turd?
FIRST!
FIRST
Oh, Damn! Fourth!
Fifth
Six in a row! Not content to be one of the only three aces in the WOT, I now try to become a Double Ace … though it’s going to take skill, timing, and four more weeks to make that happen. The competition is formidable! Oh, I know full well that I’ll fluff it and not be the coveted FIRST, but for now … six in a row, my friends. Allow me to throw open wide the goodies, and toss in some trivia to make it sweet.
DID YOU KNOW…?
When did the first regularly-scheduled television broadcasts begin?
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2024
The annual renewal of the world (at least the northern half of it) begins next week! That’s right … spring will arrive!
I don’t know if I’ve told you this (over more than seven years of this foolishness I probably have but I’ve also forgotten), but the start of spring also used to be the start of the new year. Maybe we ought to go back to that … it made a kind of sense at the time.
I’m not in charge of the calendar, of course, but I do want to wish you a happy spring once it does start.
And some happy trivia from now until then! Enjoy, friends.
Did you know …
… a Roman dictator was made such while he was plowing his field? Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519 BC-430 BC) was notified of his selection as dictator while he was working on his farm. Cincinnatus accepted the honor and led the army in defense of Rome from numerous rival tribes. Following his victory – which came only sixteen days after he assumed command – Cincinnatus retired, going back to his farm. The U.S. cities of Cincinnati, Ohio and Cincinnatus, New York are named in his honor. (Politicians, there’s a lesson here for you, if you’ll just learn it.)
… “nice” didn’t always mean what it does these days? During the 14th Century, for instance, the word nice was a noun meaning “foolish or simple person.” (So it applies to me either way, I guess.)
… a type of wine has its own unofficial holiday? August 18 is Pinot Noir Day. (Take a guess at the proper way to celebrate.)
… you may have a periapt? Before you go heading off to the dermatologist to have it removed, wait … periapt is an archaic term for a charm or an amulet. That would be something you’d wear to protect yourself against disease, bad luck, etc. (And if you have two, you have a pair of periapts.)
… most pirates who wore eye patches did not have vision problems? The basic idea behind the patches stemmed from the fact that pirates moved about below decks on ships, where the light was bad, and then up on deck in sunlight. The patch kept one eye “dark-adapted” so the pirate could move the patch to the other eye below decks and see easily.
… jellyfish are not fish? Heck, scientists aren’t totally sure of exactly what they are. They have no bones, no brain and no heart. (Sounds like a visit to the Wizard of Oz might be in order.)
… the first regularly-scheduled television broadcasts began in 1935? And they didn’t happen where you might have thought they would, in Britain or America. Nope, the first regular TV broadcasting took place in Germany. A service called Deutscher Fernseh-Rundfunk (German Television Broadcasting) began on March 22, 1935, airing programs promoting the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). The broadcasts were low-definition black and white, with a resolution of 180 lines, and were seen mostly in “television parlors” in and around Berlin. For comparison, modern analog television – which isn’t even used any more – had 525 lines in the U.S. and 625 lines in Britain. Broadcasts, which aired three to four days a week at the beginning, petered out as World War II went worse and worse for the Germans, finally ending in November of 1944. Programming was mostly political in nature, but there were some variety programs and even a comedy or two. The 1936 Olympic Games were very thoroughly covered, though primarily from a German perspective. A group of 285 reels of the filmed programs was discovered in a warehouse in Berlin in the late 1990s, and was put together in a special collection called Television Under the Swastika in 1999. That program is available on YouTube. (And programming has gone downhill ever since.)
… it’s a good idea to check those yard sale purchases you make more closely? In 2013, a family purchased a bowl at a garage sale for $3. The bowl later brought $2.2 million at an auction after it was learned that the bowl was a piece of pottery from the Northern Song Dynasty of China and had been made in the 11th Century. Prior to that discovery, the bowl had been collecting dust on the family’s mantle for years. (I can only guess how many of you are checking over that stuff for this weekend’s yard sale right now.)
… you probably have never seen the most common wildcat in North America? Bobcats are the largest group of wildcats on the continent, but they don’t like being around people and thus stay out of sight as much as they can. (Which is just fine with me.)
… a famous movie director had a high opinion of puns? Most people consider puns to be the lowest form of humor, but not Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). Hitchcock, director of classic films such as Psycho, said that “puns are the highest form of literature.” (And I don’t think he was trying to be punny, either.)
… a merchant’s request rescheduled Thanksgiving? Until 1939, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the last Thursday in November. In that year, however, the president of Macy’s Department Store, Jesse Isidor Straus (1900-1985), asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) to move the date to the fourth Thursday. The reason? To increase the number of shopping days before Christmas. Roosevelt granted the request and Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November ever since.
… chocolate does not cause acne? In fact, it may be quite the opposite. German researchers have found that the flavonoids in chocolate absorb ultraviolet light, which helps protect and increase blood flow to the skin. This ultimately improves the appearance of the skin. (Lemme have another Hershey bar, then.)
Now … you know!
The CT River greenway is my backyard so I’ve seen a bobcat or 2 on occasion.
Spring a couple years ago, I’m out in the back doing typical swamp yankee stuff (planting potatoes, oil change on whatever, hiding an intake of bourbon from the missus. the usual), I notice the birds, grey, and red squirrels are alert calling. So I look around the tree tops to find the red-tailed hawk and let him know if he goes after my ducks I’ll ‘disappear’ him.
20 feet from me in the low ground, crinkling leaves draws my attention. That furry fat fqer standing, staring right at me.
I’ve wrestled an 8 pound pissed off domestic cat and there is NO WAY I’m letting this thing near me. I grab a handful of Glock, stare back at’m while backing away slowly, up the stairs, to the front door, open it, yell at the wife to grab my binos and join me on the hill in the side yard.
We watch that thing cross a walking trail and head into town.
For the next 30-or-so minutes we warned anyone walking thru that area. A mom with a kid in a stroller turned around, but this old couple walking a maybe 6 pound “dog” kept on walking.
…Some people…
The other time I was walking around the river park well after dark, doing NODs conditioning/familiarization. Came up to two howling in each other’s face.
They fought for a little, fur freaking everywhere.
Didn’t stick around to find out who won or what their plans were for later.
Cats are dumb and could attack whenever the F they feel like it. Bobcats are cool as a concept, but they concern me pretty good.
We had a mama bobcat with two kittens living under a CONNEX across the street from our shop. We’d see them nearly every day, she minded her business, we minded ours, peaceful co-existence and she kept the squirrel population undedr control. I was outside and two young female trainees (obviously city girls, not familiar with AZ wildlife) started screaming WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT, THAT CAT IS GONNA EAT US! AAAAAAAH!!!! I look over and mama bobcat’s got one kitten sitting next to her, the other dangling from her teeth the way mama cats do, and she’s looking at me like “who are these screaming humans and why are you not chasing them away?”
When I was on recruiting duty at East Texas, I saw the only mountain lion I’ve ever seen in the wild.
They were clearing off land to put some houses near an armory. I was driving up the highway and I see this very large dog come running out of the woods. It was making for the other side of the road at flank speed. Just about the time my brain figured out that It was moving way too fast for a dog, I get a better look at it and I’m like “holy s*** that’s a lion!”. It ran off into the woods on the other side and I never saw it again.
I worked on a farm for a while after I retired from active duty. One foggy day I saw a beautiful mountain lion walking abeam about 100 yards from my position. I froze hoping the lion didn’t notice me. I was impressed by the lion, such muscles, such a proud bearing, it walked like a recruit on basic training graduation day. As the fog lifted I noticed it wasn’t a lion 100 yards away; it was a feral cat about 10 feet away.
Up until 1973 there was a bounty on bobcats in some CT river areas. Before I left the area in 1975, I had a friend who wondered why so much of his flocks were lost to rats. Not that bobcats would have preferred a fresh rat to a cornish hen or a duckling; I believe the bounty had something to do with his losses.
Sitting in a tree stand some decades ago I had a bobcat stroll by. I left him alone.
Way back when #1 son was very young, were were “fishing” in his grandparents stream when a jaguarundi started down the bank about 25′ away from us. That was cool.
Nobody would believe it, because officially jaguarundis don’t inhabit our AO, but the bottomlands of the Rio Grande some couple-a hundred miles away. But this guy didn’t read the biologists’ books, I guess.
I’ve been to Cincinnatus, NY.
If you ever get the chance to go…pass.
For any of you Adorable Deplorables in the National Capital Region this weekend, Hack Stone and Elaine Ricci will be host a combination surprise birthday/intervention for everyone’s favorite Vice President of a proud but humble woman owned business. Paul has really turned things around, he hasn’t filed for bankruptcy in over two years. If Phil Monkress drops by it will be the greatest birthday party ever.
You should call the False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) and drop him an invite. Actually, make it a plus 2.
He has some new Phildo Supporters to bring to the party.
Hack Stone would give his left nut, if Rosetta Stone did not keep his testicles in a jar, to hear the conversation between Phil Monkress and his loyal to a fault employee in Reston Virginia as to (see what Hack did there?) the top secret career suicide mission he wanted Psul to carry out on his behalf. Growing up, everyone knew that one kid who had a dimwitted friend who he could talk into doing all kinds of dumb shit, then leave him twisting in the wind when it inevitably went bad. Who knew that the manipulator would grow up and run All Points Logistics?
16th?
Open Thread!
How Russia is fighting the Ukraine war.
Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,
I Live, I Fight, I Win: Rules of Life In War
https://lethalmindsjournal.substack.com/p/i-live-i-fight-i-win-rules-of-life
Happy Friday! Hope everyone had a good weekend. So, I must apologize. I had initially planned to do an entire segment on VJ day, with both the Japanese and American perspectives on the use of the atomic bombs, events and decisions that led up to the Japanese surrendering, and what the Pacific Campaign meant as a whole. But these past two weeks I’ve been eaten alive by work, with myself having to work 10-hour and 12-hour shifts for 8 days straight so I could get to my vacation. As a result, I haven’t devoted enough time and effort to what I had planned and unfortunately I’ll need to push it back another week. But I will at least post something about about the Pacific Campaign today, so here you go: Japanese tanks are thought of mostly as a meme (especially since they had a nasty habit of blowing up when they went up against the M4 Sherman) and here’s why:
Have a great weekend!
Just couldn’t make it in time to compete, so I’ll just award myself another Honorary First. I blame some damned outdated software.
((((OVER))))
Epstein did not kill himself.
FUCK YOU to the FBI monitors.
It was during a veterans’ event where I saw a friend talking with the county sheriff. My friend yelled to me, “Hi hero!” I gruffly responded, “I’m nobody’s hero!”, then added in a more friendly manner, “but I do have the highly coveted National Defense Service Medal.” All of the veterans in earshot laughed until we noticed the sheriff laughing. All the laughter stopped and we all glared at the sheriff.
Who did the sheriff, who was never in the military, think he was laughing at our joke?
Yeah!!!!
🤬
That should be the “highly coveted and rarely awarded National Defense Service Medal”. Just don’t go around falsely claiming to be the recipient of the highly coveted and rarely awarded Precious Metals Recovery Expert Badge.
Not first but certainly not last….for long.
Happy Friday to all.
Have a great weekend! Remember to not set your clocks in any direction. That was last week and no one thought to tell you, probably for good reason.
Take this info and embrace it, you miserable c*nt!
4 days ’til Sprung!
How about that recoil spring cap that holds the barrel bushing in place on a 1911?
1911 recoil spring cap: 5340-00-501-3201
Bonus NSN: 1005-01-373-7868 Shok-Buff
That must be the mortal coil for a 1980’s vintage Jaguar that Psul wrote about.
AR-15 Detent Spring = 5360-00-523-8084
Bonus NSN: 5360-01-136-5471 Spring, Helical, Tors Burst Cam
Well….Do You?
Julius…regretting he was born before gunpowder was invented…
Present.
Today #1 Son and Favorite First Daughter-in-Law celebrate 27 years together. Mrs. GB and I are so thankful God led him to that young lady – she is a jewel among women.
Y’all have a great weekend.
And yet here I am, stuck at Casa de Sparky Western Annex.
Best to everyone this weekend, and if the lights still work when you hit the switch, it’s a damn miracle.
Don’t worry folks, he practiced safe sex, he used a condiment.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/revolting/safeway-sick-083271
Inspect your produce closely.
On station.
All I can say is “No Shit!”
I’m calling for reparations for those service members who were unnecessarily separated and criminal charges against Fauci.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-report-blasts-governments-response-covid-warns-repeating-mistakes
Anyone needing a palate cleanser with all tha stoopid (thanks, Anon), his should do it:
Took me a minute to realize that WASN’T a full growed, nice, Aerial Artillery Platform, dropping practice rounds. Thought the “RC” stood for “Really Cool”. Alas…no Earth Shattering KA-BOOOM Happy Ending. (Didn’t have the audio up.)
Imagine, if you will, a swarm of those coming in from an unfriendly. Big Country did an in-depth posting of the use of drones in the ‘kraine awhile back. We may need to look at some jammers for perimeter defense. The thought is that very few could be taken out by pretending you’re shooting clay pigeons. The recent post here on the thousands of drones at the border does not bode well.
Another box from MPS will be here Monday. Perusing Sam’s Garden Accessories latest as we speak.
You know what to do…
https://tldavis.substack.com/p/deflation-of-a-nation?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=700076&post_id=142654887&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=agepv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
TL is always a good read.
Prepare? The Dude knows…
Wow. Professors (?) at the University of Illinois did a study and they claim it shows that we US citizens are too stupid to figure out the difference between an opinion and a fact. Thus, we need to have our political information censored. Americans Can’t Tell The Difference Between Facts And Opinions, Study Explains (studyfinds.org)
Citizen of another country wanting free stuff.
https://twitter.com/Babygravy9/status/1769038416111415766
Englandistan is lost to western civilization. Even the Conservatives are really progs in favor of government control of everything.
Last week Brandon announced that he is going to have his regime spend 3.3 billion dollars on 132 projects that rectify racism in the history of the US. Gee, 132 overpriced boondoggles. Anyone wonder whether there will be a convoluted mechanism for The Big Guy and/or his family to get his 10%. In a few years, he may be wealthier than the Black Jesus aka “the one we have been waiting for.”