Weekend Open Thread
Good Friday (Bing AI image generator)
The evening of Holy Thursday through the evening of Easter Sunday is considered the most holy three-day run in the Christian calendar. It is considered one continuous observation. Enjoy your weekend!
Category: Open thread
First!
Missed it by “that much”. All hail Commissioner Wretched, may his reign be a kind and benevolent dictatorship.
CONG-Rats C W
Go CW!!
I’m totally late to the party as usual but fuck it. I’m here present accounted for.
Can Hack Stone be restored to his rightful place on the throne as a kind and benevolent dictator by scoring the first comment on Weekend Open Thread, or will Hack Stone have to take consolation in being crowned Miss Congeniality with the requisite consolation prize of a year’s supply of Rice-A-Roni? Magic 8-Ball says…
Deeee-nied!
You don’t have to be a sore winner. Hack Stone will just grab his box of Rice-A-Roni and get the fuck off the stage.
Rice-A-Roni the San Francisco Treat
Minute Rice if you like it neat.
I suggest spicy chili Top Ramen with a can of salmon dumped in…. but that’s just me
Now I’m curious about that. Ramen is off my dietary list though. Spikes the hell out of the diabeetus.
Low-sodium, vegan, low-sugar, low-fat healthy Ramen tastes like flour paste (plain rice cake is better) and takes twice as long as it says to make. Ain’t nothing like the real thing. (Have to lose weight and get my blood pressure down here. Miss cheese and McD’s, too.)
Look what you all have done to the WOT Throne Room! It’s going to take me two days just to clean it up. Oh, well, I’m back on the throne and ready to rule as a benevolent despot for the next week.
First, of course, the storehouses are opened for all victuals, food and drink and all that stuff. Second, the trivia, which is not nearly as important – but fun. Enjoy!
DID YOU KNOW…?
April Fool! Time for the annual game of which three are wrong!
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2026
April is upon us, and that can only mean one thing.
Showers? Nope.
Flowers? Nope.
Baseball? Yes, but not in this context.
It means that it’s time for the annual April Fool edition of the column. Three of the items in this week’s collection were totally made up by me, and your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to determine which ones they are.
No prizes are offered because I’m a senior citizen on fixed income (I.e, a cheap so-and-so), but you would at least win the glory of knowing that I can’t fool you. If you want, you can send your guesses to me at my e-mail address: didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I’ll let you know how many you got right.
The game’s afoot!
Did you know …
… during the 18th Century, there was more than one way to pay admission to the Tower Menagerie in London? If you wanted to pay cash, the charge was ¾ pence. However, if you were broke on the day you wanted to go, the admissions people would let you in if you brought them a stray dog or cat. The animals would be used to feed the lions in the menagerie. (I don’t think this is what Bob Barker meant when he said, “Help control the pet population.”)
… a metric unit of liquid measurement was named after someone? The liter, the basic unit of liquid measurement in the metric system, was named after French wine merchant Claude Èmile Jean-Baptist Litre (1716-1778). Because of his work in defining the liter, we use a capital “L” to denote them today. (Oooh la la!)
… a television network had a unique explanation suggested about why a lead character was missing from several shows? In 1967, CBS aired the western series Pistols ‘n Petticoats, about a family of crack shots who helped solve assorted crimes. The series starred Ann Sheridan (1916-1967), but she became ill with esophageal cancer just before filming started. Sheridan tried to keep the illness a secret, but as the show progressed the effects of the disease became obvious to everyone. Sheridan died shortly after filming the 21st episode of the series, but the program continued on for six more episodes without her. How did CBS explain the absence of Sheridan’s character? At least one source said the network wanted to put out the idea that her character, Henrietta Hanks, had been eaten by an elephant. (I guess the fact that elephants are vegetarians didn’t register.)
… one of the most oft-quoted lines from a radio or television series was not actually said at any time during the series? You’ve undoubtedly heard someone say, “Just the facts, ma’am,” purporting to come from the long-running radio and TV series Dragnet. But at no time during either the radio or television run of the series was the line said by the main character, Sergeant Joe Friday, played by series creator Jack Webb (1920-1982), or by any other character. Webb would say lines such as, “All we want are the facts, ma’am,” but the catchphrase itself was never used. (Those are the facts, ma’am.)
Dan Akroyd said the phrase “Just the facts, ma’am” in the Dragnet movie. does that count?
How about Bruce Willis “just the fax”? ( second Die Hard)
“Beam me up, Scotty” was also never said on Star Trek.
… the bagpipe is really a Scottish invention? These wonderful instruments, which while being played resemble nothing more than a person with cat in his arms, biting his tail, were developed in Scotland in the early 5th Century AD. They would be outlawed during the reigns of several English kings, but they always came back. (Scots who don’t like bagpipes are often kilt.)
… viruses mutate fast? How fast, you ask? Well, according to research, viruses mutate more in one day than humans have in the last three million years. How does it happen so quickly, you wonder? It’s due to their rapid rate of reproduction, an inability to repair other mutations, and the way they can exchange genes with one another. (Which makes the development of anti-virus medicines really tough at times.)
… a restaurant in Pittsburgh served only food from nations with which the U.S. was in conflict? The appropriately-named Conflict Kitchen was in operation from 2010 to 2017, and offered a menu dedicated to nations the U.S. was having disagreements with. The menu rotated every three to five months, and the restaurant also offered educational information about the nation in question. Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia … all were featured at one time or another. The restaurant closed in 2017 because the Carnegie Foundation pulled its support. (It probably would’ve lasted forever otherwise, since we always seem to be on the outs with some country or other.)
… the Morse code for “SOS” has a meaning? Depending on use, it can mean “save our ship” or “save our souls.” (Good advice to follow no matter what.)
… animals experience time differently from humans? Scientific studies have shown that, on average, the world moves slower to an animal than it does to a human. It is all determined by how fast the brain can process information. Lizards see the world much slower than a cat or dog, for instance. (Of course they do.)
… Americans in World War II used specific challenge words for a purpose? During the war, American GIs would use words like “thunder” or “welcome” because native German speakers have a difficult time with the sounds of “th” and “w.” Those sounds do not exist in German. (That’s wild. See what I did there?)
… the average American family uses 749 pounds of paper products each year? (For what?)
Now … you know!
“the Morse code for “SOS” has a meaning? Depending on use, it can mean “save our ship” or “save our souls.””
It also has an unmistakable sound as in:
Dih dih dit Dah dah dah Dih dih dit
repeated over and over.
Yup. It was chosen because of its simplicity and recognizability.
Not to be confused with the Army favorite
“chipped beef on toast”
Also simple and recognizable. My dad used to make some top-shelf SOS.
Take a plate of SOS and put fried eggs on top. Then take the plate and put it on top of your head and have a good time as your tongue slaps your brains out of the way to get at it.
Pro tip:
When the dog pukes at 2AM
cut a paper plate in half and
use it to scoop up the puddle
before he starts eating it.
Shit on a shingle
That’s how my wife chose me too….
Search around YouTube for “Josh from England” and his cohort, he never stops talking about his love of the American dish of Biscuits & Gravy!
I never had biscuits and gravy until I joined the Army. It’s one of the greatest things in America!
Mmm….Biscuits and gravy. Sausage gravy please, not the pasty white stuff.
I’m not picky. I’ll take whatever gravy is available. But… sausage gravy is preferred! Little cafe where I grew up used to do fries with brown gravy. Ohhh yeahhh.
In a flood or other natural disaster it means Save Our Shit!!!
Third!
Okay … why is the first part of the Trivia “awaiting approval”?
I’m starting to think I’m not welcome …
You keep posting, I’ll keep reading.
Let me try this again.
DID YOU KNOW…?
April Fool! Time for the annual game of which three are wrong!
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2026
April is upon us, and that can only mean one thing.
Showers? Nope.
Flowers? Nope.
Baseball? Yes, but not in this context.
It means that it’s time for the annual April Fool edition of the column. Three of the items in this week’s collection were totally made up by me, and your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to determine which ones they are.
No prizes are offered because I’m a senior citizen on fixed income (I.e, a cheap so-and-so), but you would at least win the glory of knowing that I can’t fool you. If you want, you can send your guesses to me at my e-mail address: didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I’ll let you know how many you got right.
The game’s afoot!
Did you know …
… during the 18th Century, there was more than one way to pay admission to the Tower Menagerie in London? If you wanted to pay cash, the charge was ¾ pence. However, if you were broke on the day you wanted to go, the admissions people would let you in if you brought them a stray dog or cat. The animals would be used to feed the lions in the menagerie. (I don’t think this is what Bob Barker meant when he said, “Help control the pet population.”)
Speaking of April Showers:
If April showers bring may Flowers and Mayflowers bring Pilgrims, then how did Herpes get here?
On the Captain’s dinghy.
Thank-yuh very much, don’t forget to tip the veal and try the Waitress!
Whose turn was it in the barrel that day?
Fuck those frog bastards. Allies? Right.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/04/03/france-struck-a-deal-with-iran-over-strait-of-hormuz-n3813559
The Frech Battle Flag is a white cross on a white background.
FOR SALE: French WWII combat rifle, never fired, dropped once.
Tres Francaise! (They haven’t been the same since Napolean got his ass kicked.)
Just happened to read, once again, of the Barbary pirates, the Muslim nations of North Africa, who preyed on European and American shipping. The Europeans had been paying tribute and ransoms for captured citizens for years. The Americans did too, at first, but in the early 1800’s went to war with the pirates. Other than Sweden and the Kingdom of Sicily, Europeans didn’t help then either.
To be fair, I had an opportunity back in the day (Provide Comfort) to work with some French Aircraft Maintainers.They were stand up dudes (and some dudettes). I think their problem is the same as ours; decent military but idiotic politicians.
TOP TEN, present and unaccountable as I once again award myself Honorary First.
((((OVER))))
Happy Easter, everyone!
Gonna try this one more time, then … we’ll see.
DID YOU KNOW…?
April Fool! Time for the annual game of which three are wrong!
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2026
April is upon us, and that can only mean one thing.
Showers? Nope.
Flowers? Nope.
Baseball? Yes, but not in this context.
It means that it’s time for the annual April Fool edition of the column. Three of the items in this week’s collection were totally made up by me, and your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to determine which ones they are.
No prizes are offered because I’m a senior citizen on fixed income (I.e, a cheap so-and-so), but you would at least win the glory of knowing that I can’t fool you. If you want, you can send your guesses to me at my e-mail address: didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I’ll let you know how many you got right.
The game’s afoot!
Did you know …
… during the 18th Century, there was more than one way to pay admission to the Tower Menagerie in London? If you wanted to pay cash, the charge was ¾ pence. However, if you were broke on the day you wanted to go, the admissions people would let you in if you brought them a stray dog or cat. The animals would be used to feed the lions in the menagerie. (I don’t think this is what Bob Barker meant when he said, “Help control the pet population.”)
… a metric unit of liquid measurement was named after someone? The liter, the basic unit of liquid measurement in the metric system, was named after French wine merchant Claude Èmile Jean-Baptist Litre (1716-1778). Because of his work in defining the liter, we use a capital “L” to denote them today. (Oooh la la!)
11th!
Present and accounted for. Happy Easter, fellow deplorables!
FIRST FIFTEENTH And that’s the fact Jack And a Happy Easter to all you Gals and Guys..
…and to you too Jeff.
DID YOU KNOW…?
April Fool! Time for the annual game of which three are wrong!
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2026
April is upon us, and that can only mean one thing.
Showers? Nope.
Flowers? Nope.
Baseball? Yes, but not in this context.
It means that it’s time for the annual April Fool edition of the column. Three of the items in this week’s collection were totally made up by me, and your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to determine which ones they are.
No prizes are offered because I’m a senior citizen on fixed income (I.e, a cheap so-and-so), but you would at least win the glory of knowing that I can’t fool you. If you want, you can send your guesses to me at my e-mail address: didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I’ll let you know how many you got right.
The game’s afoot!
Did you know …
… during the 18th Century, there was more than one way to pay admission to the Tower Menagerie in London? If you wanted to pay cash, the charge was ¾ pence. However, if you were broke on the day you wanted to go, the admissions people would let you in if you brought them a stray dog or cat. The animals would be used to feed the lions in the menagerie. (I don’t think this is what Bob Barker meant when he said, “Help control the pet population.”)
This just in, Pete Hegseth hates Catholics:
https://twitchy.com/dougp/2026/04/03/huffposts-attempt-to-create-a-good-friday-outrage-cycle-about-pete-hegseth-is-disgusting-even-for-them-n2426774
The guy with all the Catholic tattoos is obviously filled with hate for Catholics. 🙄
Maybe it’s just a disguise?
The liberals in the media will never stop trying to stir the shitpot, they need to be forced to lick the spoon!
Vindman. Again.
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2026/04/03/vindman-randy-george-pete-hegseth-n2426764
Vindman sucks.
Donkeys…
Which one?
He asks rhetorically, since they both do.
It’s kind of a tag-team deal.
The Vindman bros, both treasonous rats. Despicable.
IMO Vindman isn’t worth even a squirt of rat piss.
Ditto!
A previous post implied we non-nautical types don’t understand Navy speak. That’s very true but, I’d like to bring up the time a CPO didn’t understand Navy speak. It was back in the olden days when the USAF service dress had 4 buttons. I was swapping war stories and other lies with this Chief when I pointed out the older gentleman running my parts counter. I told her the old guy was a Cox’n during WWII. She went up to him and asked if he had been in the Navy during WWII and what did he do. He said he had been and he was a Cox’n. Later the old guy asked me what was the Chief’s problem. He told me of the conversation and that she had angerly stormed off. Later that day I ran into the Captain’s Yeoman who was laughing his head off. The Yeoman said the Chief had formally reported me and the old guy for sexual harassment (paperwork and all). Trying to talk through his laughter, the Yeoman said how the Captain had torn the Chief a new one mainly for embarassing herself and the entire US Navy and on a USAF base no less. The very idea the Chief didn’t know what Cox’n was when a USAF MSgt and a DAF civilian did appalled the Captain to no end. The Yeoman said he wasn’t eavesdropping, but, the Captain was so loud everyone on the quarterdeck could hear him. Needless to say I counted and measured every word I spoke to the Chief from that day forward.
Been busy, but still here.
Y’all have a blessed Easter.
It is Finished!
AMEN, Graybeard…
AMEN!
“The Journey To The Cross: The Final Days of Jesus”
” The Journey to the Cross is a cinematic instrumental reflection on the final moments of Jesus Christ, told entirely through music and imagery. Without narration or dialogue, this piece invites the viewer to experience the weight of sacrifice, sorrow, and love through sound, silence, and visuals.”
I say the same, but be vigilant and carry, a number of Imams have called for violence against Christians on Easter, and given the amount that B. Hussein 0bama and Biden allowed into the USA, …
I hope and pray to be wrong about this, but we have to stay safe.
Stay safe.
Hot take on Hegseth and his recent actions.
https://youtu.be/YaDHHxNZSa0?si=p_LX56QKlC115WbF
Hot mic setup and jiggly video.
Way too many tats.
The guy on the right is a POSer. He has a MACV-SOG patch on his wall. He is not old enough to have served in it. Plus, the guy on the right is not Hegseth, obviously. As usual, more fraud from our resident commie.
Dude is younger than me, and I was in grade school during Viet of the Nam times.
MACV-SOG deactivated in April, 1972. The youngest Americans serving in it were in their twenties or older. I had an NCO an two officers that left operational elements of it in 1971 to join my company. All of us were in our mid to late twenties. All three were Special Forces qualified.
Not your best attempt. Try again.
AND?
The F-16E WSO was recovered from Iran.
I spent a couple hours yesterday getting my latest acquisition ready to tow 3/4 mile to my house. Part of that was in a torrential downpour.
Years ago I had a 1960 Willys DJ3A, the first 2WD Dispatcher Jeep (most people are familiar with the DJ5 Postal Jeep). I owned it for about seven years but finally let it go as opposed to dragging it around with me the second half of my career.
Yesterday. I became the owner of a 1946 CJ2A. It’s almost complete–engine and drivetrain components are all there–but is going to need a little work to get running. Like many old CJs, it was painted Army Green at some point, complete with stars. It looks like it was originally Harvard Red, and will one day be painted either that color or given another original CJ paintscheme. My Army days are behind me, and having an 80-year-old CJ doesn’t mean I have to make it cosplay as an “almost” MB.
It will be fun and a learning experience. My old DJ had the Go-Devil as well, but outside of adjusting the distributor points, I never had to get too down and dirty with that Jeep. It ran, and what work it needed was both outside the price range of an E-6 with five kids and hard to source parts for. The column shift DJ3A was a lot less common than the CJs. For better or worse, I’m better off financially now, the kids are mostly grown, and CJ parts are pretty common. I’ve found sites where you can essentially build a reproduction CJ2A, with frames and body tubs along with all the smaller bits.
The US Army’s M38 Jeep was the military version of the CJ2A, what became the CJ5 was the M38A1.
I have a ‘55 CJ-3B, a few were sold to various governments as the M-606. Other than the engine (Hurricane V. Go-Devil) and the obvious tall hood to make it fit, it’s not that much different than the 2A.
Kaiserwillys.com will be your new best friend.
Christ is Risen.