Category: True Stories

Saturday Matinee – Horror Cat, Great Beer Run & Gary Clark Jr.

I generally avoid posting cat videos, but this one made me smile. [Found here via here.]

“At a time when the Vietnam War was at its height, one man, John “Chickie” Donohue, snuck back into the war zone to find his 3 closest friends and buy them a beer.”

This guy is probably the only good excuse to get burned up at Coachella. Here’s Gary Clark Jr. cranking some retro blues/rock awesomeness on 16 April 2016.

Have a great weekend folks, see you back here tomorrow for stuff.
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Greetings Feral Irish Fans!

If this is your first time here, have a walkabout; just make sure you leave a trail of breadcrumbs and set the timer, or else click on the “Sampler Plate“at top right. Lot of stuff buried in these archives. We have .gifs every Friday, UToobage every Saturday, and Sundays are often link dumps. –Bunk
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Elie Aghnedes’ Contribution To The World: The 1954 Rhino

Rhino 1954

Rhino 1954 2

Greek-American inventor Elie Aghnides amassed a fortune coming up with clever inventions.

One of his more unusual creations was the “Rhino,” an amphibious four-wheeled vehicle designed to patrol and defend the vast roadless wastes of Alaska and Canada.

Weighing in at five tons, the four-wheel-drive machine could hit speeds of 45 miles per hour on the highway.

Defining features were its massive front wheels, which had six-foot diameters and weighed 1,500 pounds each. Their hollow, hemispherical shape gave the Rhino its unique all-terrain capability. As the vehicle sank into mud, sand, or other soft surfaces, the bearing surface of the ribbed wheels increased, giving it greater traction.

The Rhino’s massive wheels and low center of gravity also meant it could tip 75 degrees to either side without toppling over.

In the water, the hollow wheels provided flotation, while a rear water jet provided propulsion at speeds of about four miles per hour.

The Marmon-Herrington Company of Indianapolis built one prototype of the Rhino for demonstration. The United States military declined to purchase any, reportedly out of concern that the wheels could be punctured by gunfire, sinking the vehicle [via].

Rhino 1954

Not only could it float, it had such a low center of gravity that it was nearly impossible to overturn. Here it is in action:

Elie Aghnides didn’t stop there. He created another prototype amphibious vehicle named “The Cyclops,” but for some reason the prototype construction failed. Aghnides won a $120.5K settlement with The Marmon Group in 1972.

I want one, if only to crash Burning Man without paying.
[Images from here, here and here. Found here.]

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco-de-Mayo_zacapoaxtlaz_Corbis-E

[Leer sobre la historia del día, clic aquí.]

It’s free, but there’s just one catch.

FreeCremation

[Found here.]

The Greatest Warship of All Time? [Survey Says…]

USNI News asked its readers, “What is the greatest warship of all time and why?” Though what makes a warship great is highly subjective, our readers offered their education and expertise to put forth their ideas as to what the answer to that question should be. And with nearly 900 reader-generated answers and more than 26,000 votes, the results are in.

The results are interesting, and this one amazed me.

turtleship

Readers also held particular esteem for the uniquely Korean “turtle boats” that came into form under Admiral Yi Sun-Shin, who in 1591 resurrected and modified the best features from designs from nearly two centuries prior to produce the Kohbukson — “turtle ship” — whose convex-covered decks resembled a turtle shell. Averaging in length from 70-110 feet, these flat-bottomed, boats, studded with spikes to prevent board and spaced with gunports, loopholes for muskets, and sporting a a powerful psychological weapon — a smoke-spewing dragon’s head at the bow — were not only virtually impenetrable, but also fast and maneuverable. The ships played a decisive role in defeating regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s numerically-superior fleets during Japan’s invasion of the Korean peninsula of the Imjin War of 1592-1598. The ramifications of that defeat still resonate to this day.

More on the Turtle Ships (including a link to a History Channel vid) here. See the rest of the poll winners here.

AND… WE’RE BACK!

tacky-tv

What an ordeal.

Once Verizon bumped off its FIOS service to Frontier Communications on April Fool’s Day (appropriately enough) stuff happened.

We started hearing an unidentifiable *beep* from somewhere in the house, but it was of such short duration we couldn’t pinpoint the source. We timed it, and the missus and I positioned ourselves in various spots every 15 minutes attempting to triangulate it with no luck. We were hunting for an electronic cricket and after unplugging/dismantling every thing we knew that could beep, it kept recurring.  We thought we we’d been pranked by a friend, cursed him while searching likely spots he might have hidden a quarter-sized “beeper.” No dice.

On a whim I opened up the FAU closet and found the culprit. There was the Verizon FIOS equipment, and every 15 minutes it was telling us that its backup battery was dead. Bastards.

BEEP

So I reset the alarm, yanked the battery. Silence for 24 hours, and then it began again – every fifteen minutes.  Hitting the reset button daily was a temporary solution, but we could finally get some sleep without that infernal beeping.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, that I’d only imagined that the Utoobage was stuttering. Nah.

Then BAM.

Nine days later, our landline and internest access crapped out. The landline came back, but internet access and WIFI was dead. I called Frontier Communications. Technicians would be out the following day between 8AM and 6PM (a tight window) so I took the following day off without pay, as did the Frontier Communications techs who didn’t bother to show up or call to cancel the appointment.

Buh-bye, Frontier Communications.

NO FC

Time Warner Cable has been deluged with calls from disgruntled Verizon / Frontier Communications subscribers to set up new services, so we waited it out.  Three “appointments” later, Time Warner Cable finally came through this morning.

I never realized how much we depend on internest access, and having to watch TV only added to the torture. Instead, I watched “End Of The Century” and “The Imitation Game,” and read Elliot Carson’s excellent book “Joe Rochefort’s War.”

Anyway, we’re back. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll try to make up for lost time.

Bunk

[Related post here, and no, that’s not me in the .gif.]

Honka Chicka Hot Links

HonkaChica

Wallington Chevron sells Seattle Propane, and it’s a gas [via].

Daddy’s really thirsty.

Perspiration goes “Poof.”

Google “Run Hog Face” and this is one of the image results.

This is awesome. And so is this.

https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/718893221242347520

That should outrage everyone regardless of one’s political affiliation. Integrity in journalism is dead. Welcome to the world of Pravda.

[Top image found here.]

 

 

Saturday Matinee – USS Hartford Breaks The Ice, Remi Gaillard & Ray Charles

ARCTIC CIRCLE (March 10, 2016)
USS Hartford (SSN 768) surfaces in the Arctic Circle near Ice Camp Sargo during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2016. Servicemembers and civilians assigned to Arctic Submarine Lab clear ice from the hatches to allow for surface access. ICEX is a five-week exercise designed to research, test, and evaluate operational capabilities in the region [via].

Remi Gaillard’s Blind Man [via].

Ray Charles was the best. Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow, rain or shine.

1964 Soviet Taxi Prototype

1964 Soviet Taxi Prototype 5

Even a babushka with a baby carriage full of pea soup fits in, without a drop spilled. The car never made it to production, but the concept is interesting, given the state of automotive manufacturing in the USSR at the time.
[Click the images below for full size.]

This unique test car was designed in 1964 based on components of “Moskvich-408”. It successfully passed performance tests in Moscow and was recommended for serial production In Yerevan, but due to different reasons it didn’t go this far…

[Caption with more photos here.]

Saturday Matinee – The South Memphis String Band, Bascom Lamar Lundsford & The Allman Bros. Band

The South Memphis String Band is a bit traditional and a bit unorthodox in their approach to country bluegrass and blues. Here’s their version of “Jesse James.”

“Jesse James” was first recorded by Bascom Lamar Lundsford in 1924. He played and promoted traditional Appalachian folk music and styles from the previous century.

The Allman Brothers‘ version of “One Way Out,” recorded live on 2 November 1972 in Hempstead, New York:

“Ain’t but one way out baby,
Lord I just can’t go out the door;
Ain’t but one way out baby, and
Lord I just can’t go out the door;
‘Cause there’s a man down there,
might be your man I don’t know.”

Here’s a brief history of the song with links to earlier recordings.

Have a great weekend, folks. More fun is on the way.