“My favorite part about the Columbo Board Game is that they wouldn’t pay Peter Falk what he wanted to be involved, so they had to work around showing his face.”
[Found here.]
Category: True Stories
7 December 1941 – Pearl Harbor
Always Remember: The declaration of war was issued AFTER the attack.
This film is interesting.
That’s my late dad’s stamp that he put on most correspondence.
Klaus-Günter Jacobi’s Contribution To The World
If socialism is such a great economic system, why have so many people died trying to escape it?
Risking imprisonment, torture and death, Klaus-Günter Jacobi modified a BMW Isetta to help his friend escape the oppression of East Germany in 1963. Nine others were able to escape using the same method.
[Escaping East Berlin in a 1961 BMW Isetta [via]. Short vid here.]
Your Own Public Idaho Hot Links
Doggie Duty [language warning].
The Laughing Policeman (Charles Penrose,1922).
This kind of crap should disgust you. More on the story here, and this is a great response.
She thought she was going to win.
From the This Kinda Creeps Me Out Department:
Never heard the term “spatchcocking” before. (It’s a gerund or present participle.)
Forget “Global Warming.” Forget “Climate Change.” Get ready for “Global Meltdown” and “Climate Collapse.” We’re dooooomed.
I rolled my eyes when I read the original story, but this commentary is funny. [NSFW, NSFK]
From the This Is Very Cool Department BUT:
During the U.S. campaign against al Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan, the U.S. government offered hefty bounties for al Qaida, Taliban, and other insurgent leaders. These bounties were highly publicized although rarely collected.
U.S. Central Command decided to toy with the terrorist commanders: Military and intelligence analysts drew up a list of high-value targets, followed by a public announcement that the bounty on a particular terrorist leader had been slashed Word was whispered in the local markets that the man wasn’t worth the higher reward because he had been injured or been deemed incompetent.
According to Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker of The New York Times, the “less-valuable leader” then wanted “to prove he was still important and worthy of the higher bounty. Even senior members of al Qaida’s global network had been suckered by the ruse and were picked up after they made themselves visible not long after the bounty on their heads was reduced.”
Norman Polmar, “To Understand Russian Submarines, Think Outside The Box” USNI Proceedings, October 2019. http://www.usni.org
So why did the NYT expose a military PsyOps tactic, how did they find out about it, and why did USNI decide to echo it?
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.
(The one from 2009 had some funny in the comments.)
Title above is a reference to this (as if you didn’t know).
Thanksgiving 1621
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”
–Edward Winslow, December, 1621
Nearly all of what historians have learned about the first Thanksgiving comes from a single eyewitness report: a letter written in December 1621 by Edward Winslow, one of the 100 or so people who sailed from England aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and founded Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
[…]
Just over 50 colonists are believed to have attended, including 22 men, four married women—including Edward Winslow’s wife—and more than 25 children and teenagers. These were the lucky ones who had made it through a rough entry into the New World, including a harsh winter during which an epidemic of disease swept through the colony, felling nearly half the original group. Some 78 percent of the women who had arrived on the Mayflower had died during the first winter, a far higher percentage than for men or children.
“For the English, [the first Thanksgiving] was also celebrating the fact that they had survived their first year here in New England,” Tom Begley [of Plymoth Plantation] points out.
The Plymouth colonists were likely outnumbered more than two-to-one at the event by their Native American guests. Winslow’s account records “many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men.” Massasoit (who was actually named Ousemequin) was the sachem (leader) of the Pokanoket Wampanoag, a local Native American society that had begun dealings with the colonists earlier in 1621.
[Image from here, historical commentary from here.
Related posts here.]
In 1915, The U.S.S. North Carolina Became The 1st US Aircraft Carrier.
[The] catapult was installed on board the U.S.S. North Carolina during the late summer of 1915. The first test was made with a plane which carried no pilot, with the controls lashed in flying position. The experiment was successful so far as the catapult was concerned, although the plane stalled at the end of the track and spun into the water. This was sufficient proof for Lieutenant Commander Mustin, commandant of the station, and he ordered the second plane aboard to be prepared for a catapult shot. Climbing in and warming up the engine he flew the first plane off a catapult mounted on a ship. After several live shots, the next attempt was to catapult a plane while the ship was definitely under way. Lieutenant A. A. Cunningham, U.S. Marine Corps, was selected for this experiment. This shot, however, failed and the plane struck the water with one wing and turned over. Fortunately, the pilot swam out from under and was picked up by a boat.
Saturday Matinee – The Password, Larkin Poe, Grace Slick & Ernie Andrews
The Password [via].
Seen that scene many times, but it wasn’t until recently that I connected it to something I read years ago.
The Code Breakers” by David Kahn is a classic book on the history of cryptology. In Chapter 2 he described the simple alphabet letter-shift that every schoolboy knows, but then he double-encrypts the shift with a password. Kahn used SWORDFISH as an example.
Using a simple alphabet shift from A to B:
TACKYRACCOONS reads SZBIXQZBBNNMR. Lot of repeated letters, but if you add a key like SWORDFISH to the shift, you get LWQBVGIUJGKJ, and it’s tougher to crack. That’s kind of how the WWII German Enigma machine worked.
Leadbelly cover found here.
Grace Slick’s vocals (sans backup music) on White Rabbit creeps me right out [via]. “Remember what the door mouse said.” Oh shut up. Go feed your cats or something.
I need an aural palate cleanser after that one, so let’s roll with this:
Yeah, Ernie Andrews, one of the greatest big band soul singers of all time, and “Do I Worry” is one of my all-time favorites.
Have a great weekend or two, folks. We’ll keep the porch light on.
Armistice Day: The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, 1918
Veterans Day gives Americans the opportunity to celebrate the bravery and sacrifice of all U.S. veterans. However, many Americans confuse this holiday with Memorial Day.
A Brief History of Veterans Day
Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.'” As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.
In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress — at the urging of the veterans service organizations — amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
In 1968, the Uniform Holiday Act ensured three-day weekends for federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. Under this bill, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holiday on its original date. The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on Oct. 25, 1971.
Finally on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of Nov. 11, beginning in 1978. Since then, the Veterans Day holiday has been observed on Nov. 11.
Derelict Tokyo
Bonk Bonk On The Head Hot Links
Must read. These never-ending kangaroo court house proceedings are dangerous to our country, no matter what political party you align with. If every future election can be negated by one political party via majority fiat, we’re done for.
True.
On taking out the head of ISIS.
Now about this LTC Alex Vindman…
Testing Hohner Harps. This lady is good.
Climate 101: Step 1. Calibrate The Oral Thermometers.
This is good news. The boy was singled out and smeared for doing the right thing, ie., NOTHING.
Drugs, zombies & tent cities. The source of the problem dates to 1963. Look it up.
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.
[Top image from here, and yeah, I altered it a tad.]
Tacky Raccoons 