It’s time for a little motivation – FEAR THE BONES!
Army is favored to win, but that means very little when faced by pirates. Look how pirates beat the cream of the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans. There is hope.
Bullet Points:
** When you think there is no hope, recall the lobsters in the tank at the Titanic’s restaurant.
** Former FBI Director Wray resigned the day before it was revealed that as many as 26 paid confidential undercover assets were embedded within the crowd on January 6, 2021. Does anyone recall Ray Epps? The FBI took great trouble to plant stories in the mainstream media suggesting that Epps wasn’t on the FBI’s payroll. When does the FBI do THAT? I want to know how much the Insurrection Twenty-Six were paid from the national treasury. Will Pedo Joe Biden pardon the outgoing and disgraced FBI director before he leaves office?
** In what way does stirring destroy them?
** Make America Healthy Again. Will it work?
** “Remember the lessons of history. Remember how often whole peoples have allowed themselves to be persuaded to go to war by ‘wise’ men—and then utterly destroyed by the enemy they agreed to attack! Remember how many statesmen have helped raise new leadership to power—and then been overthrown by their protégés! Remember how often leaders have chosen to treat their friends like slaves—and then perished in the revolutions caused by their idiotic methods! How many powerful men have craved to dominate the world—and by overreaching have lost everything they once possessed!”
Historic Moves
When the Beeper attack went down, I was stunned by its genius. It opened doors to attack I could not have imagined. Suddenly, the Jihadis (Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah) couldn’t talk to one another out of fear. So they couldn’t defend themselves or coordinate security.
And one by one, Israel picked off their leadership, from the tippy-top to the mid-level managers.
Combine that with Russia’s problems in Ukraine, and Assad is gone. Iran is a toothless snake, an Islamo-Fascist regime ripe for overthrow. If Trump and his team can make the Deal of a Century in Syria, somehow threading the needle, it could be a game changer. There is no use of US military force, saving only preventing Iran from going nuclear. THAT we cannot have.
Russians keeping Tartus? No skin off our nose, ESPECIALLY if they support preventing the Moolahs from getting the bomb. But then, they rely on Iranian drones to fight the war in Ukraine; maybe we should end that war?
***
Imagine if she’d won…shudder.
Because it’s Game Day
An old, blind sailor accidentally stumbles into an all-girl biker bar, unaware of his surroundings. After feeling his way to the bar, he orders a shot of Jack Daniels.
As he settles in, he suddenly yells, “Hey, anyone here wanna hear a blonde joke?”
The room goes dead silent.
From beside him, a deep, authoritative voice calmly responds, “Before you go any further, I think you should know a few things.”
The voice continues:
1. “The bartender is a blonde woman with a baseball bat.”
2. “The bouncer is also a blonde woman.”
3. “I’m a blonde, 6-foot-tall, 175-pound black belt in karate.”
4. “The woman beside me is a blonde professional weightlifter.”
5. “And the lady on your other side is a blonde professional wrestler.”
The room stays silent as the sailor pauses to process what he just heard.
After a moment, he chuckles softly and says, “You know what? Forget it. I don’t feel like explaining the joke five times.”
***
The oldest firearm discovered in Arizona is a 500-year-old Coronado expedition relic.
Archaeologists in Arizona have unearthed a bronze cannon linked to the 16th-century expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, marking the oldest firearm ever found in the continental United States. The cannon, a sand-cast bronze piece measuring 42 inches long and weighing approximately 40 pounds, was discovered at the site of a Spanish stone-and-adobe structure in the Santa Cruz Valley, believed to be part of the short-lived settlement of San Geronimo III…
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/…/oldest-us-firearm…/
For those of you who deployed on foot, nobody wanted to carry the pig or to carry the ammo to feed the pig if you were a/gunner. Likely, somebody tossed it.
Don’t get me wrong. If things went badly and you needed to break contact, the pig was a welcome piece of steel to have along…a lot like the Barrett, which weighed almost as much as Coronado’s cannon fully equipped.
***
Floats
Here is a good view of the emergency flotation bags on an XF4F3. They popped out of the top surfaces of the wings and remained inflated for at least 30 minutes. The bags were also used on several other aircraft but fell out of favor after some inadvertent inflations while the aircraft was in flight.
***
Do you Want to find Gems and Minerals?
Arizona is known worldwide for its rich abundance of rocks and minerals, from azurite to wulfenite. Now in its third edition, this best-selling guide covers well-known sites and uncovers many lesser-known areas. Situated in landscapes as diverse as the minerals, these sites vary from arid desert to pine-covered peaks. Detailed text describes where and what to look for at each collecting area. Maps for each site lead the rockhound to an almost limitless supply of specimens. Black and white photographs picture the collecting area. Color photographs highlight beautiful specimens found at various sites. Gem Trails of Arizona is an invaluable guide for rockhounds just starting or filled with expert advice and years of experience. For the experienced collector who has searched Arizona’s mineral resources for years, it is an outstanding source of the old and the new sites throughout the scenic state. James Mitchell, a contributor to the Lapidary Journal. Gem Trails of Arizona.
There is a gem trails series featuring different US States. It’s a good place to start and an excuse to go for a walk, hoping to find something interesting.
***
Identify the Vehicle
1
***
Identify the Aircraft
2
3
4
5
A large twin-engine monoplane with a sleek, mid-wing design and a distinctive elongated nose in its target tug configuration. Its all-metal fuselage was constructed in four sections, ending in a cantilever tailplane with a single rudder. The rudder and tailplanes were fabric-covered.
The wings featured a swept leading edge and tapered outboard sections, with wing folds positioned beyond the twin Merlin 140 engines, which drove contra-rotating propellers for better blade length management.
Parting Shot
It’s spring somewhere.
End
I read about the cannon a few weeks ago on TTAG.
I am guessing they ran out of ammunition for it, buried it and never came back as planned.
Carried an M60 for a while heavy but useful when needed. A friend carried one for his whole tour of Vietnam. Used to start a 42 day patrol with 600 rounds.
I doubt that they ever fired that cannon. Burying it for later retrieval (on the return trip) because they didn’t want to haul it makes more sense.
Most likely the ammunition for that cannon was powder, which was carried for all firearms, and musket balls. Anti-personnel weapon, a big shotgun. With the added bonus of being able to toss a large ball, often a carved stone. The gun did use ungodly amounts of powder and musket balls.
–
That, and it was a Wall Gonne. No carriage, not shoulder-fired. You braced the damned thing on a wall, using the protruding ‘hook’ and lit it off. Not a lot of solid walls out there in Injun Country. Purely a defensive weapon, not an offensive one.
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Factor all of that, powder and shot usage, heavy, and it’s basically a defensive weapon, and, heck, who wants to carry and feed that hog? Not a weapon designed for a war of maneuver.
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And, really, that gun was about 100 years or more out of date. All of the great powers shipped old and ‘useless’ arms and armor to their colonials for use against the natives. Like how England sent outdated body armor to the colonists to protect them from native arrows. Outdated firearms because the users weren’t fighting ‘a near peer.’ Which sounds reasonable, until the need for modern weapons and equipment suddenly rears its ugly head (usually by encountering either other great powers or by being attacked by hordes of natives.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if the primary ammo for the gun (referenced above) was rocks that were found locally. They’d go through lead balls quickly. So powder (2F or so) and the big brass tube.
Identify the Vehicle:
1. Matilda II
Identify the Aircraft:
2. Fiat CR.32
3. Italian Air Force Alenia C-27J Spartan
4. Beechcraft T-34 Mentor
5. Short Sturgeon TT.2
Yes!
I recall reading that the crews of the TBD Devastators were issued a spear-like pole to poke and deflate the flotation bags if they deployed while flying ( as if those poor schmucks in their TBDs didn’t have enough problems ! ) .
X2
Always look on the bright side of Life. Not only the lobster tanks on the Titanic, also recall the swimming pools are still full.
Yes indeed, you ARE an optimist, RSH.
Before the telephon, there was a Xenophon to inform us.
As for heavy weapons,
I just acquired a Garand and gained new-found respect for my dad for having lugged one across Europe.
I KNOW my dad was tougher than I’ll ever be, which is a hard pill to swallow as I am not a wuse.
*wuss
Well Seasoned Fool was over here a couple of weeks ago and I got my Garand out for him to examine.
I agree that lugging one all over *anywhere* would be a chore. Tougher men back then, I guess.
They didn’t hump a 120-pound ruck during WW2. Many of the draftees (late teens) didn’t weigh 120 lbs.
To be fair, the swimming pools were always full, even when under construction. Full of air, or dirt, or even water. But full.
–
It’s how to either impress or piss off your physics teacher when he/she asks if a glass is half empty or half full, without said teacher expressing what said glass was half full or half empty of. Glass is always full, always. Even in a vacuum, a glass is full… of vacuum. Nothing is something.
–
And, yes, have been hit by chalkboard erasers thrown by angry teachers because of my smart mouth.
Finding a bronze cannon of that age is remarkable, but where I live, I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever found that much scrap metal would have it in the back of their truck and racing to the scrap yard. History would be preserved as inexpensive figurines cast from what was once a cannon.
Could be worse. Could be living in Sweden.
“Paging Alice Bah Kuhnke. Paging Culture Minister Bah Kuhnke to the (not) White Phone.”
Jess: True of most of Arizona as well.
Locally, a man found a human skull in the woods and took it home for a souvenir. After a month, and I’m guessing some prodding from family members, he turned it over to a deputy, which led to more bones and an investigation. Using that for reference, I don’t doubt the reports of people near here finding pieces of the space shuttle and keeping them for souvenirs, or for sale on Ebay.
It’s like collecting fossils. You can collect small invertebrates, and fish lawfully, but there are rules on the larger specimens.
The lobster weren’t the Big winners. The opposition to the Federal Reserve went down with the ship.
I really like that Short Sturgeon TT.2. It looks functional and fast. Then I went and read what pops up when ya search Short Sturgeon TT.2. Bummer..
The question I have is why are the prop blades aligned? Seems like if they were synched to make it look like six blades..120 degree offset.
Buy they surely tested to see if that would improve the top speed.
>The opposition to the Federal Reserve went down with the ship.
Really? I am ignorant about this. A particular individual, or a group?
And what a fortuitous coincidence for the civic minded altruists behind the Fed. I’m sure they weren’t thinking anything along the lines of: “Give me control over a nation’s currency and I care not who makes its laws.”
https://www.history.com/news/titanic-sinking-conspiracy-myths-jp-morgan-olympic
“To top it off, the theory claims Morgan wanted to kill them because they opposed the creation of the Federal Reserve, even though Astor and Guggenheim don’t appear to have taken a position on it and Straus actually supported it.”
So three incredibly wealthy Germans/Swiss-Germans died on (or next to) the Titanic, eh? Two neutral and one pro-Fed. Hmmm.
I enjoy learning about history.
Me too.
All those rich men died with dignity preferring women and children.
X2
So the natives didn’t have gunpowder or bronze? Don’t tell the college professors, they have enough mental angst from election reality.
The Spaniards left old helmets and breastplates behind, and the Indians scooped them up. Many displayed the wares as part of the new fashion statement. The same was true of the Union Blue jackets the US Army wore—popular battlefield souvenirs.
Talk about prescient, needed me some Wu Wolf Totem this morning, being a Saturday and halfway decent out for December and heading into the General Public (‘GP’) fray. I have officially become a SISU Curmudgeon ™ and all that implies. (Without losing or overshadowing my Christianity in the process.)
**
Sidebar: Received my “Winter’s View” print by “our very own” Jules…it is stunning in person, and beautifully printed on the finest German rag I have ever held. Thanks for the heads up LL, already have the spot in the hovel picked out, right next to a wintry bison print…it’ll be complimentary while reminding me of a snowy lane where I grew up in Bucks County (yeah, that same one from the recent election news). As I mentioned to Jules, “Present’s for oneself are always extra special, right?”, in this case a piece of The Motherland in artwork proudly displayed in a Colonist log home. Doesn’t get any better than that in my book.
Jules is a superstar, and her art is collectible. One day, it will be worth a lot of money. As to the statement I have officially become a SISU Curmudgeon ™ and all that implies. (Without losing or overshadowing my Christianity in the process. The SISU thing doesn’t square with if I slap you on the right cheek, turn to me the other, and then slap you there, right cheek/left cheek (rinse/repeat). Being a warrior requires a bit of a less-than-Christian spirit. “Kill them all, God will know his own” was not uttered by Jesus. So it comes to us to parse it all as best we can.
Well, managed to not be too curmudgeonly out and about today, even with The Hu semi-Huka precursor…then the crowds arrived so exited said mall and took the back way home to avoid the I25 chariot race, nerves intact.
Rockhounds. A disease that runs deep in my extended family. Skipped me.
Draft era Army, we enlisted swine vaguely knew the academy had a football team but few cared.
Obama openly set up a shadow government when he left office. While he is probably safe from prosecution, those who worked for him aren’t. Hopefully, they can be held accountable.
Banner may not signal it to you, but I suspect he secretly hopes the the Navy will win. What dog would refuse the bones?
Bones, MREs, Air Force steak and lobster, Banner is up for all and a fan of anyone with food in hand.
Banner knows how to negotiate from a position of strength. Art of the Deal.
“HONORING A HERO! VP-Elect JD Vance has invited Daniel Penny as his personal guest to the Army-Navy game this weekend, where they will join President Trump in his suite.”
Badaboom! Never get mad…but show strength…by wiping their faces in their own mistakes. (An example of SISU Curmudgeon)
IDK about anyone else, but I find that a properly shaken martini is much colder than a stirred one.
Generally the condensation on the outside of my shaker freezes before I pour.
*
I also tend to think that a proper martini contains gin.
*
OTOH, I am not much of a martini drinker; I am afraid I am more of a fru-fru girly
drink aficionado. Little umbrellas and such. YMMV.
*
– Kle.
The Maitai and the Singapore Sling?
Too many Singapore Slings and and playing Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road too many times in the NCO club at LeJeune and you can spend a night in the brig.
Yes, those are good. Also the Cuba Libre with dark rum, LI Tea, and crazy 5000 calorie stuff
like pina coladas and lava flows, etc.
*
-Kle.
Go Navy, beat Army! ;-) Again!!!
Navy DOMINATED Army 31-13 fear the bones!
Now I don’t have to look.
I know you’re a Zoomie, Ed – but you have Navy friends and relatives. They didn’t need your mojo, as it turned out, but what if they would have?
Good, my grandmother would be happy. Her husband was USMC, graduate of Annapolis, and she went every year to the game until just a few years before she died. Go from Porterville, CA to wherever The Game was being played, then to the family casa for the holiday season, then back to Porterville after the Holidays. She’d be happy when she came down if Navy won, and somewhat peeved and grumpy if Army won.
>An old, blind sailor accidentally stumbles into an all-girl biker bar
—
Huh. There used to be a place in Cambridge, Mass near MIT. I think it was called the “Modern Times Cafe”. Anyway, I used to pass by it every day when I rode in to get my daily share of abuse (my miserable, sniveling grad-student office was in Bldg 36). I never went in to the Modern Times. And then one day it was gone. At some social gathering I mentioned that I never had the chance to see what it was like. A girl laughed. “Oh, it was this lesbian bar. So my friend and her boyfriend went in there one day; they didn’t know. She went in first and it was fine. When Dan joined her after parking the car, the other people in the place, all women, literally growled at them.” Ahahaha. Guess I missed out on getting my ass kicked. Though maybe not. My at-the-time girlfriend used to get hit on by girls all the time, so maybe I would have been okay going in with her. Or not.
Dikes on Bikes.
Identify as a lesbian trapped in a man’s body. You are attracted to women – you can’t help it, honest.
“Remember the lessons of history. Remember how often whole peoples have allowed themselves to be persuaded to go to war by ‘wise’ men—and then utterly destroyed by the enemy they agreed to attack! Remember how many statesmen have helped raise new leadership to power—and then been overthrown by their protégés! Remember how often leaders have chosen to treat their friends like slaves—and then perished in the revolutions caused by their idiotic methods! How many powerful men have craved to dominate the world—and by overreaching have lost everything they once possessed!”
Poetry.
You’ll notice the RINOS are weirdly silent.
They’re afraid, LSP. It was interesting that Pres. Trump, VP Vance, Elon and Desantis were at the Army Navy game today. Jo/Ho were absent. The Swamp doesn’t know whether to shit or go blind and the world takes notice.
Elon now worth US$435 billion. Headed for half a trillion this year.