Abilene Slim SASS 81783

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.

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.

Took me a second. 🤪

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.

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!

The stock and finish are definitely 20th century.

Twisted, but funny! 😄

Hard to believe these probes are still functioning, much less repairable from billions of miles away and 47 years. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/nasa-revives-dead-thrusters-voyager-1-after-two-decades-inactivity?dicbo=v2-LVvbsAy

Boyd Crowder!

That REALLY sucks, Evil DG. Especially the loss of your critters. ☹️

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. 😊

While far from an extensive collection, I have every LP I’ve bought since 1965.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Twentyfirth street…

Gotta love the pillar blocking the steps.

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 59 after a lousy PSA score suggested a biopsy be performed. The doc explained the advantages/disadvantages of plucking it and curing my cancer vs waiting and managing my cancer with radiation and hormones. I said “pluck it.” It’s a life-altering procedure, but if it gets into your bones, it’s downhill from there. Mine was gnat’s whisker from my bones and if I’d procrastinated, I wouldn’t be writing this. Further treatment was unnecessary and I’m still plugging along at 72.