Weekend Open Thread
September 22, 2017
Seaside Drive
A classic car drives along the Malecón, a five-mile roadway and sea wall along the coast, in Havana, Cuba.
Category: Open thread
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
First!
That’s some mighty fine F5-fapping skills you got there, Willy.
First
I was posted first, so there fore I win!!!
I’m filing a formal protest. I was robbed by a “Wilted Willy”.
That’s the final straw, I’m taking my ball and going home.
So there!
Sorry about your luck, you have to be quicker on the F5 Key!!!
and we’re back
Not First!
Suck it all you losers, I am the king of the F5 key!!
5th!!
Top 10
No!!!
Have a good weekend, y’all!!
Eleventeenth !!!
Fuck ME, I forget it was WOT time.
Well, I guess I’m the BITCH to all of you above me
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
No matter, ChipNASA, I still love you, anyway.
What would we do without you, Ex-PH2?
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Ex-PH2 is the queen of TAH, I always love your menu selections and wish I could sample any of your lovely cooking! I am always starving after reading any of your menus!! Keep up the great work!!!
Take care Ex!!!
Thanks to all of you! I have been wilting in the heat, but now that the sun is down, it will get better (I hope).
Well, here you go, my fine lass….
https://youtu.be/eGLdbpmXrbQ
Lucky Number 13!
haha, I take solace in your not being number one as you beat me out a few weeks ago.
the schadenfreude is strong
I responded to the WOT.
I think that entitles me to an Expert Trident, with gold ‘V’ and the NDSM
And also to have all of your military records and awards classified at the highest level, permanently sealed, and then stored in ‘The Vault’ at Area 51 at the personal direction of POTUS.
All of this is effective immediately, of course.
That’s nothing….we all know that the REALLY secret records are stored in a filing cabinet at the old Ft. Howard hospital and requires a UNANIMOUS Supreme Court ruling to access them! You’re all a bunch of bloody pikers!
And top it off with A Purple Star with a Silver Wing Cluster!
Remember that 2nd place is the first loser…
There can be only ONE!
And since it’s hot, I recommend cold drinks, cold food and ice cream as food… unless, of course, you’re in a cold zone and then kill the moose, roast it and eat it.
Is that a 56 Chevy?? I remember my friend Elliot’s parents buying his sister a 57 Chevy for her H.S. graduation and we used to wash and wax the car and listen to Alan Freed on the car radio. Next was stoop ball and asses up Chinese handball) in the school yard.
Nope. That’s a 1958 Buick Century that is missing the chrome from the rear side/quarter panel.
Glad I could help.
Don’t believe me?
Google images is your friend.
I’d agree it’s a ’58 Buick. It also seems to be missing a chrome strip from the rear fender to the front headlight surround.
Knowing the Cubans it also wouldn’t be a surprise if the old beast had a Trabant engine pushing that high-speed run along the Malecon. There’s nothing like the rumble of two cylinders if you’re trying to build a chick magnet…
Not just two cylinders, but a two-stroke engine as well!
Trabant, talk about Quality Control!
I have a friend who while living in Budapest restored, and brought BACK, a Trabant. Still wondering why.
If this video freaks you out…never go to a body shop.
Thanks for the heads up Claw. I tried enlarging the screen but it was not clear. I should have saved all those car models I built when I was a kid. I think the company was Monogram models but not sure since it was a long time ago.
I remember putting many a Monogram and Revell model together as a kid during the 70s!
Ah Revell. My Dad worked for Republic Aviation out in Farmingdale LI, NY as a quality control inspector to make sure the parts met Govt. specs. They made the F 86 jet and F 105’s I think. The company gift shop sold the plastic model kits for whatever aircraft they made. This was back in the 50’s.I attended one of their air shows and the Harmonicats were there to entertain us with their harmonicas. I think Joey Puleo ran the group.
Well, I goofed again and will have to backtrack on calling the classic car a Century. The rear window configuration is wrong.
This car is either the ’58 Road Master or the Super Riviera.
Just wanted to set things right before the SHTF for being unobservant.
Mea Culpa.
Claw, I have problems with it being either a Roadmaster or Special Riviera but don’t have a clue what another alternative would be.
The slope of rear window pillar is apparently correct for a Special or Century, but neither of those models used a small rear quarter window. The Cuban car is also a four-door with a definite center post. If you look at the driver’s side rear fender, there’s a gas door that doesn’t show up in any of the ’58 Buick models I’ve looked at. The shape of the front bumper also seems wrong. It should be thicker and extend down lower.
Given the anomalies, I’ve been wondering if the Cuban car might have been an export model similar to a GM Holden or something. It’s a puzzle.
Perhaps a “clipped” car, assembled from two or more wrecks?
Yep, Perry, you’re right. There is no gas door on any of the 58’s side. What a can of worms. Maybe the fuel filler was behind a flip open taillight or license plate.
Back to square one. But I think I’m not going to do any further research. The car is probably one of those Johnny Cash bits and pieces put together over the past 60 years kind of cars he sung about.
Looks like a ’58 Chrysler Windsor, to me.
It looks more like my Dad’s wickerbill 1959 Dodge Coronet.
It’s still better than a 1980’s vintage Jaguar.
Amen.
Here’s the URL for a news article about a group of POWs in Viet Nam charged with collaborating with the enemy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/09/22/traitors-or-patriots-eight-vietnam-pows-were-charged-with-collaborating-with-the-enemy/?utm_term=.7cf54c83a780#comments
One committed suicide, and the charges were dismissed.
Have you been watching the PBS documentary series, “THE VIETNAM WAR”?
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/
At that web site, you can post your own story and photograph(s), just as I’ve posted mine.
Because of weather interference in these mountains, I can’t watch it on television, so being able to use my computer to watch it on the Internet is a real blessing.
I’ve ordered my own copy of the DVD set, the textbook, and the CD of the music.
No, I haven’t watched it nor do I want to have anything at all to do with it.
I lived through it and don’t need to watch it over and over again by having the DVD set, the textbook and the CD of the music.
Ken Burns can kiss my ass.
They gave that little faggot a line in the Gettysburg movie. They put a sack coat on him and had him say: “General Hancock, get down off that horse, we can’t spare you” (or words to that effect). Ted Turner and Traitor Jane were there, too. I was one of the 78 mounted cavalry reenactors portraying Gen. Buford’s (Sam Elliot) cavalry. At one point, Turner’s flunkies wouldn’t pay when promised, so we had to stage the great mutiny of Cavalry reenactors. We made them “show us the money” before we shot the final big cav battle scene.
I won’t watch Burns’ propaganda either.
suspect I already HAVE the music
Fuck Ken Burns. I was there, he wasn’t.
I wonder if we ME Vets will have to put up with candyassed pampered prissy-headed marshmallow-heads that were never there present “documentaries” a few decades from now about what we did?
Yes, yes you will.
Doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
Yeah, warm and fuzzy like roadkill. I wonder if they’ll be as full of shit as the reporters that sent bullshit accounts back to the States?
Oh and then some. Remember, there are only 2 Ex-Marines: Lee Harvey Oswald and John Murtha. And only one of those fuckers called out his fellow Marines on the floor of the House of Representatives.
You can bet on it.
Yes, Brian Williams will present documentaries on how he single-handedly won the ME wars.
He DID say he landed under Sniper fire alongside Hitlery, disn’t he?
I wonder how many peeps will claim that they were over there but were not after watching the PBS Doc. The Phony Viet Nam claimers might possibly take the lead out of the TAH starting gate but who knows.
@ JEFF LPH, 63-66:
Anybody pretending to be a Viet Nam veteran would have to be an old man.
A bunch of guys I know are dead now.
@ John. Hey, I’m 72 now and age is just a number I’m told, But like you said, they would be up there.
Cocksucker POS Ken Burns just couldn’t help himself, and had to take a veiled jab at then 1st Lt George Bush for not serving in Nam. GFY Ken Burns.
If what I’ve been told is correct, President Bush couldn’t serve in Viet Nam, even though he volunteered to go there.
He wasn’t qualified to fly the aircraft being used in Viet Nam at that point in time, and he didn’t have enough time left on his enlistment to be retrained.
Anyway, he was a jet fighter pilot, and that alone requires extraordinary intelligence and guts.
GW was not qualified to fly anything in RVN. He was an F-102 pilot. The F-102 was a high altitude interceptor. There was no use for that aircraft in RVN. Bush volunteered for a unit that was to go to RVN but that program was cancelled before any F-102 pilots were sent over there. The F-102 units were kept in the US because they were part of the first line of defense against USSR’s high altitude nuclear capable bombers. With the amount of time left on his service obligation after F-102 flight training, the Air Force would not have spent the money to retrain him to fly another aircraft.
Hey JRM, here’s one for you, It’s the end of WWII through Japanese, Russian and Chinese eyes, good flick, you’ll want to turn on the English subtitles via the gear icon.
@ A PROUD INFIDEL:
Thank you for referring me to that movie, “PURPLE SUNSET”, which I just now finished watching!
It’s a very unique and interesting production, since all of the characters are speaking in their own individual languages, i.e., Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.
So, yes, turning on the English subtitles is absolutely necessary.
Maxine Walters says I have first place. She also pooped herself in the next sentence.
Maxine has lost it…AGAIN…
Poor Maxine…she is SO obsessed with our President that she got THIS LOW:
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/maxine-waters-pushes-trump-impeachment-eulogy/
“Donald Trump is living rent-free in the head of Maxine Waters.”
“The California congresswoman went on a stem winder of a eulogy during comedian Dick Gregory’s funeral on Saturday, quickly turning it political and attacking the president of the United States, instead of remembering her friend.”
I honestly think that She and Pelousy have gone a Dutch Rudder Gang level of crazy!
Section eight housing in Maxine’s head!
Top 30 – I was off on lunch.
I think I’ll go pop some caps this weekend. Mrs. G is off on a lady’s retreat, so she won’t feel neglected if I’m not at the house some of the time.
Perhaps I can even get my squirrel rifle’s scope sighted in.
Stolen Valorist, Kyle Christopher Barwan, is on the run. He has absconded from his Florida, Polk County Probation, and was last seen in Seymour Tennessee. His girlfriend, Toni, took him up there, but got tired of him telling her to lose weight. A couple of days ago, she told family that she now believes what she heard about him. When he left Central Florida, he said he was going to Miami, and wound up in Tennessee, so him saying now that he is headed for New Jersey, might mean anywhere but there. We really need to mention his name, (once per comment will do it), so that should anyone gooogle his name, it will lead them to here where they can get the enlightenment they need. He has been telling wilder, and wilder tales lately. Now he says that he has a Cortona Chip embedded in his head that is “voice activated” and connects to Microsoft. He speaks 7 languages, including the really bad British accent that he uses. He said that “Frankie Cee” from Interpol was nosing around, with a hit on him because of some of his heroics in Iraq and other countries. Just your basic, run of the mill, loser. This link is to a graphic at Facebook, so you may not get to it if you aren’t a facebook user.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210299975390895&set=t.1086639350&type=3&theater
Jonn may embed the graphic in my comment above and remove this comment, knowing that I don’t have the talent needed to do that embed thing, other than to post a link
Fuck this maggot.
My best guess is that he will wind up down in Merritt Island, Florida at All-Points Logistics.
Frankie – you forgot to tell the world that Stolen Valorist, Kyle Christopher Barwan, loves himself some cockmeat sammiches and ghey whey shakes from the BTJT Deli!
Una de estas vezes, quiero que uno de estos pendejos seran muertos por sus pendejadas!
Damn! This dude can’t even speak English. Bless his heart.
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until that maggot gets caught and extradited back to Florida.
Kyle Barwan is worthy of penultimate disrespect. From everyone. He earned it, when his life would have been so much easier without the lies.
Oh, well. Kyle Christopher Barwan is looking for his next victim. Unfortunately, she will likely volunteer for that duty.
Sad.
I am always last.
You guys have way too much time on your hands.
First!
Can I sit on you?
Anytime.
Comments by a USS INDIANAPOLIS survivor:
https://youtu.be/KOAg3wCkOkI
“First to Communicate”
Motto of the 1st Signal Brigade.
So I got that going for me.
Nice….the Voice of Signal.
Here’s an article about a Marine some of you men will like. Bonus – she’s an unabashed supporter of President Trump:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4907174/Combat-Barbie-served-Marines-seven-years.html
Paging IDC SARC…
Ho-LEE COW!!!!!!!!
Rowr-rowr!
DAMN!!!! She can whip me, beat me and make me write bad checks for the rest of my life!!!!
HOT DAMN!!!!
She is indeed a hottie.
She’s almost as hot a Marine as our very own Dave Hardin…
I have the utmost respect for this Marine.
I wasn’t a Marine and so I saw very few BAMs, but the ones I saw were all…BAMs.
A couple of you have mentioned to me, (at facebook), that you haven’t seen me comment much lately. I haven’t because for reasons unknown, each of my comments goes to moderation. That causes Jonn, or whatever other admin to have to go to the extra effort to validate my comment. I have never enjoyed causing others to go out of their way to accommodate me, and this is no different. There is a glitch somewhere in my computer security that causes this, not anything that Jonn may have done. I even had my computer brought to “factory rebuild” status and still have the malady, even with a whole new Windows 7 program. Until I figure it all out, I only make occasional comments, mostly about my favorite kicking toy, Stolen Valorist Kyle Barwan
And, on a less salacious note, Foxtrot Alpha has two good stories, though I think I posted the A-10 one before.
First, the USS Jimmy Carter just returned home from its mission flying the Jolly Roger:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/americas-most-secret-spy-sub-returned-to-base-flying-a-1807568498
And here’s the A-10s saving the day again:
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/how-two-a-10-pilots-saved-a-group-of-marines-who-were-c-1806510162
Have you ever heard of the Companion Ship to the USS Jimmy Carter? The USS Walter Mondale shadows the Carter and goes belly-up whenever the USS Ronald Reagan comes near.
Now.THAT.is.FUNNY!!!👏👏
You have to wait until 2:40 for the payout on this video.
Wow, that A-10 story was amazing. Downright crazy stuff.
A great story of the determination of American fighting men to take care of each other and defeat the enemy.
One Team.
One Fight.
^^^THIS^^^
FORTY-something and I claim Honorary First! Look at what I get for beating my F5 key like I’m mad at it and then taking time to shave the hair off my palms…
50!
Any of you Navy folks serve on the USS Jimmy Carter or one of the subs like her?
USS Jimmy Carter is the third and last of the Seawolf SSNs, and is unique to the class. So there really are no subs “..like her.”
Thank you Sir.
Not exactly true AW1Ed. The Halibut (SSN 587) Seawolf (SSN 575)and especially the Parche (SSN 683) were unique boats that performed unusual missions. The Carter is the follow on to those boats. All fast attack boats did and still do unusual operations, but the above ones were fitted for some really special operations.
A really good read is Blind Man’s Bluff. I was on the Tautog (SSN 639) that is mentioned in the book.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089EMLGK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I plan to get and read the book. Thank you RM3(SS)!
Unique to class, RM3, not the mission. I didn’t want to get much more specific than that. And Blind Man’s Bluff is an excellent read.
Many believe it is nuclear powered.
It is not.
… runs of peanut oil.
And Billy Beer.
BILLY BEER, I’d forgotten all about that!
Army guy questions for Navy guys weekend. How far can a modern destroyer roll port or starboard? Also, an engine question. A car has a tach with a red line. You can go into the red but at your engine’s peril. Does a Destroyer have a balls to the wall speed with no limit or is their a place where engines are in danger? If so what is the maximum speed these ships can achieve and how fast can they achieve it? Thank you in advance for your help.
Dear Lord. The amount of roll, or list, a given ship can recover from depends on numerous factors including roll’s angular velocity (deg/sec), roll period (seconds), constant angular accelerations, velocities and displacements, along with various sea state levels. These factors and more form a performance envelope where if factors are exceeded the ship will not recover from a roll. So your answer is somewhere under the curve, but a warship can recover from more roll than I care to experience.
Top speed on warships is classified, but usually stated at “30+ Kts” and is a function of hull design and propulsion type. One can only spin a fixed pitch propeller so fast or it loses efficiency, and just cavitates. Your modern destroyer has gas turbines spinning variable pitch props through reduction gears, and will go 30+ Kts.
Better?
A few years back, I was watching Military History Channel and they were doing a segment of a US Navy ship (maybe USS TEXAS?). Anyway, at some point, they were providing fire support to US GI’s squaring off with the Germans. A German tank commander knew the maximum effective range of the ship’s guns, so he stopped his tanks just short of the range. So the Captain of the ship had one side of the ship take on some water to give an extra 3 degrees on the trajectory, just enough to wipe out the German tanks. That’s American ingenuity!
Them thar Krauts JUST HAD to mess with the USS Texas and look what happened to ’em!…
And if you could maybe throw in the radio frequencies, call signs and key mats, that would help out greatly.
Hey Hack, ships’s movement is classified too, so how come all the hooks in Naples knew exactly when the carrier was due in port?
*grin*
when an unexpected supply of Coors arrives
Probably the same reason ALL the Korean USG employees on Post knew just what date and time the monthly 2ID Division Alert Exercise was taking place when I was there, the guys dating Waitresses in the NCO Club always kept us informed!
Far more involved than I ever imagined. Thank you all for the information Gents.
Anecdotally, AWANEd was a helo crewman a million years ago, and the frigate I was on hit some very nasty weather- we spent as much time walking on the bulkheads as we did on the deck (“walls” and “floor” to the nautically challenged). Good times!
AND…that’s why I joined the Army. Almost drowned twice as a little kid and was not going to do it again on purpose and being in that situation, would have been an “on purpose”. God bless all you Navy folks who were and are brave enough of heart to endure what you did.
Different strokes and back at ya, Sparks! As a kid I hated camping, and if I played golf I’d have joined the Air Force.
Endure what they did? Um, Sparks, you mean like three hot meals and clean sheets in a dry bunk while us infantry guys were eating C’s and sleeping on the ground in our ponchos?
Shipboard service has been compared to being in prison with the added potential of drowning.
So I quit shipboard life and went to shore based fixed-wing patrol aircraft, where we had all that and per diem, too.
*grin*
And here I thought a bulkhead was just the name of a wall that had a door in it.
Yes.
THIS today, Arizona Senator John McVain sells his soul YET AGAIN in his opposition to getting rid of 0bamacare, I wonder how many of these pols are profiting from personal investments they did from inside knowledge about the living abortion known as 0bamacare?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/politics/mccain-graham-cassidy-health-care.html
I never expected anything less from the walking testament for term limits. He should just switch party affiliation already.
Forgive him. He has a brain tumor.
Fuck him…he IS a brain tumor.
Easy to forgive him. Not so easy to excuse his perennial ad behavior.
Didn’t McVain in 2008 run on repealing obamacare. Ever wonder why when King obama was in office, the republicans sent beacoup letters for him to sign a bill that would repeal obamacare knowing that he would not sign them. So how come the republicans are not doing the same thing. Oh that’s right, they know he would sign the bill. Amazing. Glad I’m a Conservative. Belay that last. I’m now a white supremicist according to the liberal left.
The ACA didn’t exist until 2010. McCain couldn’t have campaigned against it in 2008.
@LC.
I heard on Fox news that he ran on repealing obamacare in 2008 so that is why I mentioned it without researching what they said on Fox. And thanks for the heads up on that.
McCain campaigned for a free-market, consumer-based healthcare system. That was in contrast to Obama’s ideas at the time. No, Obama didn’t exist as law but as a concept McCain disagreed with Obama at that time.
I meant no…Obamacare (ACA) didn’t exist as a law…
As I mentioned before, McCain does show occasional flashes of integrity.
and then there’s times like this when he’s being an obstructionist attention whore
I wish I knew your address Joe, then I would very gladly send you a toaster to play with when you’re in the bathtub!
And the Boulder Bigot chimes in again!
Go fuck yourself Joe.
I hope the other holdouts remain strong, too. Presumably you want the ACA to fail because you hope in doing so it’ll lower your costs for healthcare, right? Totally understandable.
I also want it to remain the law for the same reasons – without it, my healthcare will rise, possibly to a huge degree, pricing me out of it due to pre-existing conditions.
Personally, I wish these bills wouldn’t just target insurance, but would focus on drug and care prices. If we’re champions of the free market, why should it be illegal for me to pick up some meds in Canada for $70, versus having to pay $6300 here for the same shit? Those are actual prices from, well.. a few years ago now for some stuff I needed. Crazy as all hell.
LC…good points. We as a nation have no juristiction over drug quality from other countries. Legislation could be drafted to be sure that drugs from foreign companies were safe. The idea has merit.
One thing we need to do now though in this country is allow people to get insurance outside their states. Right now in many states, that isn’t allowed.
The current legislation removes that restriction.Insurance companies have the power to help drive down drug and procedure prices.
I think it’s fair to say that standards from Canada are pretty decent – if people were going to, say, Somalia for medicine, that could be a different story.
But I think my overall issue is that, especially for Republicans, this would seem to be a ‘small government / individual responsibility’ issue – if people choose, on their own, to buy medicine from another country, complete with any risks that might be associated with that,… it shouldn’t be the government’s business. I think the laws stopping that have more to do with lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry than ‘consumer protection’, though maybe it’s a bit of both.
As for allowing people to get insurance outside their states, I admit I don’t know much about this. I just googled and read a few articles, and all the ones I looked at said that it won’t have much, if any, of an effect, even if it results in more provider choice. If you have articles showing the contrary, I’m honestly glad to see them. Personally, I’m fine with it – it sounds like something that shouldn’t be held up in red tape anyway. I just don’t think it’s going to reduce costs in any substantial way.
Ultimately, if President Trump gets a decent bill that helps lower costs and doesn’t screw over people with pre-existing conditions, I’ll gladly support it. But we all vote our own interests, so right now, there’s no way whatsoever I can support this repeal / bill effort.
I posted this on my Facebook page, but to disseminate to a wider audience, I have a no shit need for two to three people wth a TS/SCI clearance to do a hybrid IT support/warehouse work in Prince George’s County. In addition to a TS/SCI clearance, the position requires a CI polygraph. You can e hired without the CI polygraph, but if you do not get a positive result from the government sponsored polygraph, you will be released from the contract. It is a straight 40 hour work week, work hours are 07:00 – 15:30, and there is some physical activity (mostly picking up computers from a pallet). We do have hard drive degaussers on site, so if you have a pacemaker, this job is not for you. The company is a major contractor working for a federal agency. If you know anyone interested, please PM me on my Facebook page. Once again, this is a real job offer. Salary would be what you and the company HR negotiates.
Ok, to move to the beltway area I want a bazillion dollars. Just kidding, I’ll settle for 250k a year. Is that in the realm of reality? 🙂 I know, there is that bonus of getting to work with Hack too.
The worksite requires swim access with a badge and code, so any hit squads looking to cash in that bounty for Hack would be up for a challenge.
That should read “swim access”, but sometimes when there is a lot of rain in the area, you may need to swim.
Stupid IPhone!!! Swipe Access. Swipe Access. Swipe Access.
The proud woman owned software company only requires a password, and that password is “spandex”. Be sure to keep it on the QT.
“spandex”
Ding ding ding…You said the word spandex which reminds me of Spann. Janis Spann of TAH fame.
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=73408
She must hang out in Walmart. Go there like 2-3 AM in the morning and you see a lot of strange peeps in the aisles. I don’t wear spandex but once in a while I go there around that time if I cannot sleep. I think they call them walmartians.
PG County? I have the clearances and the commute is on the hairy edge of doable, but does the employer place any restrictions on how much ammo I could carry to work there?
Hit me up on Facebook, and I’ll give you the details. If you don’t have Facebook, Jonn can give you my email, if he isn’t too busy.
Gee, I could use some extra cash. Anything one can be hired to do by telecommute? I did have a Secret Squirrel clearance back in the dawn of history, but that was on my first time around.
No, this is “hands on” work. Extremely hard to telecommute with our workload.
Bummer. If you need me for something besides heavy lifting, let me know.
80rd!
Glad to see you around more Master Chief! Hope all is well with you and the family Sir.
I have been busy.
But tracking on all.
Tracking is good. As an old Navy friend told me about refueling underway with the fueling ship on their port side, the Helmsman or Quartermaster or whomever oversaw the steering the ship would repeatedly say, “Steer no course to Port, Steer no course to Port.” If I recollect correctly.
One short of exactly the 100th entry.
PROVISIONAL PROXY FIRST!
Congrats to WW for beating that F5 key senseless!
Weekend? Dafuq is that?
oooops Kalashnikov statue changed because of German weapon http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41367394 Workers in Moscow have cut out part of a new monument to a Russian creator of the world famous AK-47 assault rifle because a weapon depicted on the statue was actually a German-designed firearm. Mikhail Kalashnikov’s monument was opened this week to great fanfare by government officials and members of the Russian Orthodox Church. But arms experts said a drawing on the base of the statue showed the StG 44 rifle used by the Nazis during WWII. It was removed by an angle grinder. “A mistake has been made by the sculptor,” executive director of the Russian Military Historical Society Vladislav Kononov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. The society commissioned the 7.5m (25ft) monument, which shows Kalashnikov holding an AK-47 in his arms. A series of modified AK rifles were etched on a metallic plate on the base of the statue, including the wrong drawing. Russian arms historian Yuri Pasholok was the first to point out the error, and several experts later confirmed this was the case. Sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov said earlier on Friday that “this is something we’re correcting”, adding that “we’re trying to avoid mistakes”, Russia’s Rossiya-24 TV channel reported. The automatic rifle is one of Russia’s most celebrated weapons, with Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky describing it as the country’s “cultural brand”. Designed by Kalashnikov in 1946, it became one of the world’s most familiar weapons used in virtually every major conflict. Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain. Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov himself made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower. He died in 2013 at the age of 94. The StG-44 (Sturmgewehr 44) was invented by Hugo Schmeisser and first used by Adolf Hitler’s troops in 1944. Some experts point to the similarity of the StG-44 and the AK-47, and also mention the fact that Schmeisser – together with a group of German engineers – was forced to work in the Soviet… Read more »
Reminds me of a Confederate Statue that was erected about 1904. It was a beautiful work of art but the sculpture, instead of having the soldier holding a model 1853 Enfield had him carrying one from 1900.
Wish I could find an image or the article top share.
Okay, this will probably inspire a lot of responses, but what the hell, it’s the weekend. The topic is the 1954 war movie The Bridges At Tokyo-Ri, starring William Holden and Mickey Rooney. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this movie, but if I recall correctly, Mickey Rooney played an enlisted Sailor who piloted a rescue helicopter behind enemy lines. During the Korean War, or at any time, the US Navy have enlisted Sailors flying helicopters? I know that the Army has (or had) a program that provides enlisted Soldiers to attend helicopter flight school and be promoted to Warrant Officer, but I have never seen nor heard of that being available in the Navy. Inquiring minds want to know.
Did a bit of Google-Fu. In 1955 The Navy still had 300 enlisted pilots while the Marines had 255.
It seems that up to and through WW2 Congress had required a certain amount of pilots be enlisted.
https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/01/31/enlisted-pilots-boosted-fledging-flight-training-program
Maybe so the O-1’s could have someone to look down on in preflight briefings.
Interesting article, but that leads to the question on how two of those were awarded the Medal of Honor for non combat events?
Livesaving for one and Artic Expedition for another.
Different criteria.
Charles Lindbergh also was awarded MOH for his flight.
The MOH has had an interesting history. It was given frivolously more than a few times before the criteria was tightened up to its present criteria.
My dad was a Navy pilot when there were still some enlisted pilots- he said the Navy taught him to fly, but those Chiefs with thousands of flight hours showed him how to aviate.
There’s an outstanding exhibit about enlisted Naval Aviation Pilots at the National Naval Aviation Museum located aboard NAS Pensacola, FL.
‘NAVAL AVIATION PILOTS (SILVER EAGLES) (MEZZANINE)’
http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=naps
‘The story of Naval Aviation’s enlisted pilots, the last of whom retired from active duty in 1981, is one of widespread accomplishment. Designated Naval Aviation Pilots (NAP) when they received their wings, the select group of Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen included three Medal of Honor recipients and many others of notable accomplishments. At the entrance of this display, an NAP checks the daily schedule before training. Enlisted aviation pilots were critical to the war effort during World War II, providing the personnel needed to defeat Axis forces.’
Very cool, thanks Mick.
Hack, not to go too far off-topic, but there’s an interesting back story to The Bridges of Toko-Ri that’s worth a mention. The film was derived from a short novel written by James Michener, who had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for a book called Tales of the South Pacific. That book was later spun off into a TV series called Adventures in Paradise about a guy who cruises around on an inter-island trading schooner. How cool is that?
Michener had been a naval officer during World War II, he spent a lot of time in the New Hebrides, and when the conflict in Korea rolled around was embedded on a couple of carriers as a correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post and Reader’s Digest. Toko-Ri was a result of that experience. It was also based partially, so it’s said, on the story of Lt. John Koelsch who was the first helicopter pilot ever awarded the Medal of Honor.
Personally, I tended to prefer Michener’s early shorter works, such as Toko-Ri and Sayonara, to the later long-winded sagas like Hawaii and Centennial.
Do you enjoy solving challenging crossword puzzles?
At the MERRIAM-WEBSTER web site, the LOS ANGELES TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE for today, Saturday 23 September 2017, is a real doozy!
It took me 32 minutes and 22 seconds to complete it.
Here’s the URL:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-games/la-times-daily-crossword
A special Saturday Shout-out to everybody’s favorite schoolboard member MICHAEL SLEEPER!!!
Still looking for those records, Mikey?
I told him to hook up with Janis Spann out in CA for help with his records. The two of them together might be able to work something out.
Gee whiz, you mean that MICHAEL SLEEPER still hasn’t coughed up the records he said he would? Come on MICHAEL SLEEPER, time to ante up!!!
Last?
Here’s something that all of you will appreciate: a company called Solar City has been fined for making claims it could not back up, to get a grant under the 2009 stimulus act.
http://wivb.com/2017/09/22/solar-city-fined-almost-30-mill-for-renewable-energy-claims/
Another SOLYNDRA… a JEF “shovel-ready” project!
Today marks the 11th Anniversary of the birth of This Ain’t Hell. Thanks everyone!
Congratulations, Jonn!
And thank you.
I’m going to break the diet and have a cupcake!!
Wow…has it been 11 years?
Happy Birthday to TAH and all the good folks who visit Jonn’s site!
Jonn, don’t forget to light up your favorite cigar and drink your favorite beverage to celebrate..Thank you for bringing TAH to the public..lots of memory lanes to walk down..
It is a good day..TAH’s birthday and National Hunting & Fishing Day…all wrapped up in one!
For all the great Men and Women of TAH..thank you for supporting Jonn with your extra change you found between your sofa…teamwork at its best.
Wow. Eleven years. Thats longer than the Vietnam War and shorter than……the present one.
Happy birthday, Jonn and TAH, et al.
So much fun…!
Congrats on another year of blogging!
Word!
May there be many more!
You’re not getting off that easy, Jonn!
HOOAH!
Congratulations. To keep this thread going, who about the Usual Suspects tell everyone how they ended up wasting their lives on this board? Hack followed a link from the POW Network to here. It’s been so long, I can’t recall when that was, or what my first comment was. Of course, I do remember getting my first death threat.
This Ain’t Hell; Come For The Posers, Stay For The Death Threats
I can’t remember when or how either but I think it was during a tournament and I was amazed at the idiocy.
Lots of fun since including getting to spend a great few days with Claw and 3/17.
The Dutch Rudder Gang, “The Lucky Sperm Club”, soiled spandex,…
So many memories.
I surfed over here from Castle Aaaargh way back when. Not sure what year, maybe 2010? Lots of milblogs have gone away (Lex is particularly missed) but TAH Soldiers on. A better class of miscreants never existed.
I’m not sure, but it may have had something to do with looking for a soup & sandwich shop, and Soup Sandwich turned up. It just went from there.
I think it was the picture of Ballduster McSoulpatch that brought me here…
Congrats, Jonn!
Don’t know anything about this group, but the individual who started it was featured on Fox & Friends this morning. He seemed stand up, and the flags featured were very nice pieces of art.
The site was probably blasted after his appearance this morning. If anyone knows anything negative about him or his efforts, please share, otherwise, I will probably buy something from him. Certainly a cause I support.
https://www.dogtagfurniture.com/
Oh look, a bunch of whiny NFL retards playing at London. They kneel for the Star Spangled Banner, but stand for God Save The Queen.
a bunch of privileged haters making $35k-$55k pay for tickets that pay the salaries of oppressed and offended multi-millionares, who thusly protest the symbols of their 1/50th salary oppressors.
Pat Tillman could not be reached for comment.
Well, at least #78 Villanueva of Pittsburg skipped the bullshit. (Thank you sir, profusely)1
https://mobile.twitter.com/NewtTrump/status/912000832970854402/photo/1
I just read a link on Drudge that Adolf Hitler’s underwear sold at auction. Coincidentally, the skid marks resemble swatzikas.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4534362/adolf-hitlers-underpants-have-been-sold-for-5000-at-an-auction-in-the-us/