Subdeacon Joe

In the early '70s Kool Cigarettes, in conjunction with tge Meters Boat Company , had a promotion of the Sea Snark sail boat. One of my brothers had a job at the drive in and between finding Kool Cigarette packages in the parking lot , me picking up packages along the road as I cycled to and from school it didn't take long to get enough to get 2 of the boats. There was a small lake near us, Lake Calavera, that people used for fishing, swimming, RC boats, and a little boating. This was when you could still ride in the back of a pickup. So in the summer we could load the boat in the bed of his pickup along with a surfboard or 2, put 3 people in the cab 3 or 4 in the bed, and head over. One day it was busy. We watched a guy in an Amphicar with 3 or 4 friends drive drive into the lake as we unloaded, there was a guy in a kayak, a couple of people in a small rowboat, we put 5 people in the Kool Boat, which put the Styrofoam hull almost under water....gunwales maybe an inch or two above the water, and a couple of us paddling around on surfboards. Towards the far end of the lake there was a guy sitting under a tree with his bottle of Red Mountain. As I went by him on my surfboard I greeted him, asked how he was doing. He allowed that he was too drunk because he'd watched a car drive by on the lake, then 5 people with a sail, but no boat, a rowboat, a kayak, and now a kid on a surfboard.

Interesting. Useless, but Interesting. There's no more "lack of driver engagement " than in an ICE with an automatic transmission. I'll admit that it took a while to get used to not hearing an engine. That lack of aural input makes it seem as if you're going slower than you actually are.

In a response to a post in a milblog I did some looking around for War of 1861 heel plates. I found an interesting bit, non-military https://www.clarendonvthistory.org/HSWF_DisplayItem?ID=225&XS=A The comment "The one on the far left in the cover photo is typical of heel plates worn by Civil War soldiers. The two heart shaped heel plates would have been worn by women," is incorrect, as there are many examples of War of 1861 Jefferson Booties, M-1851, with heart heel plates. But an interesting women's shoe with that style of plate.

Yep..... It's the middle of Lent

I searched "The great escape airplane startup scene" but without the quotation marks.

They don't have this one?

One of my G-Grandfathers enlisted in the 64th Virginia Volunteer Infantry, Co. C , in March 1863. Captured at Cumberland Gap June the same year. Spent the rest of the War at Camp Douglas. Gives me a chance to comment about the age of our republic, and how it's only a few handshakes old. In the 1960s I met a Spanish American War veteran at my dad's VFW Post. He undoubtedly knew veterans from the War of 1861. They likely had met Revolutionary War veterans. So just four lifetimes to cover our entire history.

I thought we deleted all those!

Tell me 'bout the good old days!

Especially if it's an inertial starter. That's one place the "Round Engines" tribute is weak, inertial starters whine like a spoiled 13 year old. Of course, inertial starters were used for all sorts of engines

I used to spend lots of time, sometimes an hour or more, trying to find the videos on YouTube so people wouldn't whine about not being able to watch them. I finally decided that it wasn't worth the time catering to other people's paranoia about signing in on a site. Especially sites like Instagram or X (formerly Twitter), or even FB (although I do try a little harder to find a YouTube version of the FB reels). ADDED: I do spend time trying to find news articles on sites that don't require actual paid subscriptions. Or even unpaid subscriptions that require providing credit card information. On the rare occasions that I can't I give a warning about a paywall.

How can you not like such classics as ???? That's pretty much my thoughts on it. "If we throw in a banjo or mandolin, and sing with a hillbilly twang, we ca say it's country." A lot of it's just early and mid '60s rock.

Dedicated To All Who Flew Behind Round Engines We gotta get rid of those turbines, they’re ruining aviation and our hearing… A turbine is too simple-minded, it has no mystery. The air travels through it in a straight line and doesn’t pick up any of the pungent fragrance of engine oil or pilot sweat. Anybody can start a turbine. You just need to move a switch from “OFF” to “START” and then remember to move it back to “ON” after a while. My PC is harder to start. Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse, and style. You have to seduce it into starting. It’s like waking up a horny mistress. On some planes, the pilots aren’t even allowed to do it… Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a lady-like poof and start whining a little louder. Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho fart or two, more clicks, a lot more smoke, and finally a serious low pitched roar. We like that. It’s a GUY thing… When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: Useful, but, hardly exciting. When you have started his round engine successfully your crew chief looks up at you like he’d let you kiss his girl too! Turbines don’t break or catch fire often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency, and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it’s going to blow any minute. This helps concentrate the mind! Turbines don’t have enough control levers or gauges to keep a pilot’s attention. There’s nothing to fiddle with during long flights. Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman Lamps. Round engines smell like God intended machines to smell. Pass this on to an old WWII pilot (or his son who flew them in Vietnam) in remembrance of that “Greatest Generation.”

Historically it was POWs who did the burying. Or your own yard birds. At Gettysburg the initial burials were those methods, but in fairly shallow graves. Later the bodies were disintered by a paid contractor, who subcontracted with a free man of color to do the work. https://www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/2023/06/03/a-retired-photographer-and-free-man-of-color-join-forces-to-disinter-the-dead-at-gettysburgs-soldiers-national-cemetery/

Well, there's some what's call that noise music! I've just never cared for that style. It seems well done for what it is, just not my bowl of soup.

The alphabet is wrong https://fb.watch/yFKAgdTDvT/

Tioga Pass in California (1964)

Which leads to not being able to get up from the ground.

I watched this FB reel of sailors boarding their ship. https://www.facebook.com/reel/618938596920035?mibextid=9drbnH&s=yWDuG2&fs=e Before they start trotting aboard they are putting their right hands over their racks. Why are they doing that?