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Abilene Slim SASS 81783
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Posts posted by Abilene Slim SASS 81783
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18 hours ago, Sundog said:
My understanding is that the Yamato was one of two battleships that were the largest and heaviest ever constructed (72,000 long tons). Musashi was Yamato's sister-ship. The guns on these ships were so large and powerful that many of the Sailers who operated the guns suffered major physical infirmities during and after firing. Japan started building these ships just about the time when the USA discovered that "air power" was going to be the dominant force of the future.
There was much dissent among the Japanese military planners over whether the Yamato and Musashi should be built at all. They were extraordinarily expensive to build, using scarce materials and so expensive to operate that they didn’t see much action. Many felt the money and resources could be put to better use. They were built anyway for national prestige.
For Operation 10-Go, the plan for Yamato was to sail to Okinawa and ground it offshore as a stationary gun platform, as there wasn’t enough fuel available to make a return trip.
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1 hour ago, J-BAR #18287 said:
Try the shot once. Maybe you will get lucky. If it recurs, do the surgery. I've had surgery on fingers of both hands, easy recovery. My hand surgeon is on speed dial.
This ^^^^^
The shots are effective, but aren’t always permanent. One of them has lasted me years. Two others only a few months. Surgery is a quick office visit. Shots are painful but only briefly. Surgery is no different.
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2 hours ago, Pat Riot said:
Took me a second. 🤪
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About 10+ years ago I was in OK City for Land Run. Several of us were riding together in a pard’s car going to dinner. Not knowing the area, we passed by the restaurant we were looking for. Upon that realization, our driver slowed and did a safe, but illegal U-turn in the middle of the street, which was seen by an LEO who pulled us over.
Our intrepid driver produced both his KS drivers license and CCW permit when asked for license and registration. The LEO looked at the permit and asked, “Do you have any guns in the car?” To which our driver said, “Yes sir, lots of them.” Without missing a beat the LEO said, “As long as you don’t point any of them at me, we’ll get along fine.”
He then wrote the traffic ticket and bid us good evening.
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10 hours ago, Cyrus Cassidy #45437 said:
My grandfather was wounded and his ship sunk off the coast of Okinawa during this battle. He was on the USS Luce, DD 522.
Kamikazees struck the magazine, causing a large explosion that shredded his leg. He was bleeding profusely, and some sailors put a tourniquet on him and strapped him to a stretcher. They were carrying him when the order was given to abandon ship; it was going down. The sailors dropped him and abandoned ship, leaving him for dead. He was tied to the stretcher and unable to move as the ship listed heavily and sunk farther and farther into the water.
When the ship was at about a 45 degree angle, a sailor climbed onto the deck where he was lying and cut him loose from the stretcher. He put a life vest on my grandfather and tossed him into the ocean. The ship sunk completely a few minutes later. Then the Japanese aircraft flew passes back-and-forth over the survivors, strafing them with machinegun fire to kill the survivors. My grandfather used to talk about having the bullets pass by on either side of him. He was not hit, but he remained in the water awaiting rescue for three days, during which time the sharks were eating survivors.
He survived the blast, the sinking, the machinegun fire, and the sharks. Upon his rescue, he was evacuated to a hospital in Norman, OK and treated for several months. He had been engaged to my grandmother before the war, so she drove from Iowa to Oklahoma and met him at the hospital, where they were married. They remained married until his death in 2010. She followed him in death in 2014.
His leg did not have to be amputated, but he required a metal brace that started at his shoe and went all the way up his leg. He walked with a cane and a limp, and every few years more metal would work its way to the surface and it would have to be surgically removed. He kept a Mason jar of metal that had been removed from his leg.
On December 7, 1941, my grandfather, who had recently graduated from high school, was a plumber's apprentice in Independence, Iowa. He planned to become a journeyman and marry my grandmother, but the war changed everything. After his injury, he could not pursue any type of blue collar work so he used the GI Bill to go to Iowa State University and become a civil engineer. He was the first person in my family to go to college, and he later spent an entire career with the DOT and helped to design the interstate system in Iowa.
Walking was very painful for him, and come to think of it, so was sitting. He hurt pretty much all the time, but I never heard him complain. He used to tell me, "Every day since that day was a gift from God."
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1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:
Thank you for clearing that up. ‘Cuz I don’t remember nothin’ ‘bout hammers and rubber ducks in “Ode to Billie Joe”. 😄
I think I’ve acquired ADD from trying to follow these “ricochet” threads in the Saloon. Another round on me barkeep!
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The stock and finish are definitely 20th century.
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1 hour ago, Pat Riot said:
Twisted, but funny! 😄
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Hard to believe these probes are still functioning, much less repairable from billions of miles away and 47 years.
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17 hours ago, Pat Riot said:
Boyd Crowder!
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That REALLY sucks, Evil DG. Especially the loss of your critters.
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2 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:
Me too, blessing and a curse to always have been able to afford to keep and move stuff from times past. I do play them, but less every year. I have a few years worth before your time line.
Those are the ones I purchased with my own money. 😊
I also have those my parents purchased, including one of the all-time great early “stereophonic” albums, “Persuasive Percussion” (1959). I was fascinated by the alternating left channel/right channel “cha cha” arrangement - “I’m in The Mood for Love” - on the Heathkit stereo system dad built then. I pull it out occasionally for the memories. 😊
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While far from an extensive collection, I have every LP I’ve bought since 1965.
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15 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:
Mom was a WASP in WWII.
She was an instructor pilot for both the P-51 and P-38.
Mom always said the P-51 would kill you faster than any other aircraft she ever flew.
It was her(and mine)favorite.
🇺🇸🇺🇸
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When asked, John Garand said he didn’t mind the American way of pronouncing his name. He said something to the effect that millions of soldiers pronounced it that way, which was just fine with him. To this day, his family says either pronunciation is correct.
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When inflation was raging back in the late ‘70s, the usury caps on credit card interest fell below the ever increasing prime rate. So the banking industry lobbied and won the ability to raise their rates. Of course when the prime rate dropped, card rates didn’t. And now they’ve added all sorts of fees on top of interest, making them more like those payday loan operations.
About 10 years ago I got a Southwest Airlines VISA card to build points for travel. The introductory pitch was a new cardholder would get a $200 credit applied to their first ticket. When I got my first statement, the credit had been applied, but I found the card came with a $200 annual fee, thus wiping out my “savings”. I immediately cancelled the card.
That’s also when I found out that affinity cards - airlines, Cabelas, Home Depot et al - are managed by Citibank or some other huge banking conglomerate. Got a problem with your Home Depot or Southwest Airlines card? Call Citibank. That’s when you find about all the caveats buried in reams of fine print.
There was a time when this kind of crud was the purview of the mob. Thanks to lobbyists, it may be legal now, but it sure is deceptive.
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The USA made 1860 Henry is around $3k and an Uberti made 1860 around $2k. $1,900 for a new Garand seems about right to me.
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To me, the P-40 is just a cool looking plane, and a very capable one to boot. They didn’t get the glory of some other single seat fighters, but they did a lot of the grunt work necessary to win the war.
I feel the same way about the P-39. The Russkies used them with devastating effect.
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1 minute ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:
....... what? ......... twentywunth street ? 🤓
Twentyfirth street…
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Gotta love the pillar blocking the steps.
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Saguaro cactus location
in SASS Wire Saloon
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I’ve seen movies where Abilene and Dodge City, KS are the settings. I don’t recall any mountains in my travels there, unlike those shown in the films. I’ve also flown the 4 corners of the state and didn’t see any there either.
I’m glad Hollywood doesn’t make maps. 🙃