Ponderings

Big Country muses on the war in Ukraine and how Russia is refurbishing mothballed tanks.  Quantity, he says, has a quality of its own, and it seems that it's surprisingly easy to refurbish old armor. 

That got me pondering.  Last light Dopey Joe gave his State Of The Union address and called for an Assault Weapons ban.  Vlad seems to be thinking that the future is now, and an old tank tomorrow is worth much more than a bunch of new stuff next year.  In this very same vein, doesn't that suggest that anyone who hasn't already bought an AR-15 should go out right now and get one?

Palmetto State Armory has an AK-47 pattern rifle for $619.

And ammunition should be bought by the hundreds (or thousands) of rounds.  Remember, a US Army combat load of ammo is around 200 rounds per soldier, and they get resupplied.  A thousand rounds today is better than more next year.

In My Memories

America looked like this 50 60 70 years ago. The video below is just a series of stills, but to those of us old enough to remember, it evokes a time of promise and energy, shared purpose, and hope. Some of these look like my town, some of the people look like my parents.

Meme-ento Mori

Well, memes are transitory, right?  And it's a better name than "Meme Monday" ...

That one is no joke.  When I was a kid in Maine in the '70s our Boy Scout troop would go winter camping.  In February.  In Maine.

I hope Glen Filthie gets out early for good behavior.

This is a true damn fact.

More next week.

David Rakshin - Theme from The Bad and the Beautiful

A long-standing cliche in theater is the "Play within the Play" motif.  This goes way back (remember Hamlet?  "The Play's the thing."), and generally is hard to pull off.  A related genre is the "Movie about a movie" which is similarly hard to pull off.  An exception to this was the 1952 film The Bad And The Beautiful, starring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner. It scored five Oscars which is a record of sorts (well, for a film that wasn't nominated for either Best Picture or Best Director; but hey, a record is a record).

The film spawned a whole mini industry of speculation as to just which real life Hollywood people were characterized in the film.  It's said that David Selznick had his lawyer review the film to see if it was libelous, which is pretty fun.  Hey, the play's the thing, amirite?

David Raksin composed the theme song (and the entire soundtrack).  The producer wanted lyrics to the song but Raksin was pretty steamed about having to split the royalties of his previous hit song "Laura" and so insisted that it would be instrumental only.  It also became a hit, presumably much to Raksin's satisfaction.  Sadly, this bit of Hollywood drama wasn't depicted in the film.

But the music is quite nice.  Not exactly film noir (which Raksin also composed for), but from a Hollywood at the height of its musical power.

LOL [snort]

U.S. Tanks In Ukraine Already Destroyed After Being Easily Recognized By Their Rainbow Camouflage

Hat tip: Mike at Cold Fury.

Should Tom Brady have (stayed) retired?

Tom Brady is the greatest football player in history, but did this last disastrous season hurt his reputation?  Or is his career so impressive that it really didn't hurt him?

He originally retired a year ago, and then came back for one more season.  If he had stayed retired then everyone would have thought "Of course he could have played longer; he went out at the top."  Now it's pretty clear that while he is still a great quarterback, he's not what he was a couple years ago.

Thoughts?

Tom Lehrer - So Long Mom (A Song For WWIII)

Seemingly everything old is new again.  Apocalypse Nostalgia, anyone? 

Has WWIII already started?

Very in-depth and thoughtful post at E.M. Smith's place.  The comments are thoughtful, too.

For the life of me, I can't see what compelling interest the USA has in war with Russia.  I can see what the US Military Industrial Complex has with a war like that.  And as they say, "War is the health of the State". 

But I don't see what's in it for us.

UPDATE 31 January 2023 11:18: Chuck Pergiel has a related and very interesting post about who the chief clowns running US foreign policy are.

Update 31 January 2023 15:35 : Link corrected

Memento Mori

An ancient roman toddler walked over a clay tile before the clay had dried.

Bet he got chewed out over that.

 

Monday Memes

 What, too soon on that last one?

A note to the NFL

You may think that we've forgotten how you let everyone take a knee during the National Anthem.

 We haven't.  Not watching your dumb sportsball, you un-American jerks.

Frederick Delius - Florida Suite

Today is the birthday of English composer Frederick Delius, who lived in the American South when he was young and picked up a sense of "American Themes: during that time.  If you like Greig or Wagner, you'll like this.

His Florida Suite hearkens back to his days managing an orange plantation in, well, Florida. 

Rest in Peace, Gerhard van der Leun

He was a thoughtful and thought provoking man.  Something he wrote triggered a post here once, and he was quite gracious in the comment he left.  Rest in peace and rise in Glory.

Ave atque vale.

Hope for the younger generation

John Wilder has a very thought provoking post.  It's long bit highly, highly recommended.  He ends what would be a depressing post with, well, hope.  Stuff like this:

Amen, John.  Amen.  I have some of that here.

Please, no Black Pill comments.

Thank you, everyone

Thank you everyone who left a comment, or sent an email about Wolfgang.  And a special shout-out to Big Country who called to cheer me up.  As you can imagine I've been fairly wrung out, but thanks, bro.

The Queen Of The World and I are determined not to let him suffer.  He's not at that point yet (thank goodness) and so we're focusing on pain management and quality of life.

But many thanks, everybody. 

The Wolfgang Chronicles - III

"If you think this is the time, I'll support that decision."

His vet said that today.  Crap.

I took this picture seven years ago today, when we got three feet of snow in Maryland.  He made a trail through the snow for The Queen Of The World, and loved every minute.

Today when the vet said those words, TQOTW cried.  She's not ready for this.  I'm not ready for this.  How could you be?

Wolfgang's back legs get tangled up when he walks.  Sometimes he falls.  It's hard for him to stand up a lot of the time.  But his mind is clear, and he wants to play with his doggie friends.  The other day at the local dog park when one of his friends was chasing a ball, I didn't let him play chase.  He has always loved that.  But I knew it would make him hurt for days.  So I held his collar and didn't let him run.

He cried.  That about killed me.

Today at the vet I realized that it's not that we won't have him for years (heck, y'all might not have me for that).  But we might not have him for months, or maybe weeks.

I'm not ready for this.  I know what's coming, and what's approaching.  We won't let him suffer.  But this is too soon, too soon, too damn soon.

"If you think this is the time, I'll support that decision."

Font Follow-up

 

Go for a stroll underneath a battleship

Dwight visits the dry-docked USS Texas.  He also buys a souvenir bit of USS Texas steel.  Somewhere, #2 Son has some souvenir deck teak from the USS North Carolina.

Rest In Peace, CWO John Torr

I hadn't known that he came back from Vietnam with a Bronze Star.  

The service reminded me of Dad's, and made me think of the Honor Guard in Santa Fe.  Unlike at my Father-in-Law's burial in Arlington, the Honor Guard yesterday didn't need to be asked to police up the brass to give to the family.  They were very thoughtful, performing a hard duty.  I wrote this after Dad's service, and thought about it a lot yesterday.

Honor Guard

The Veteran's Cemetery in Santa Fe is beautiful, with well-kept grounds and a spectacular view of the mountains.  The Veterans' Affairs staff there is helpful beyond belief.  But most impressive of all was the Honor Guard.

This must be a tough duty, spending all day, every day welcoming home fallen veterans.  It must take a special sort of personality to be continually surrounded by grieving families, and to take that grief as an inspiration to perfect the ceremony.  The respect they showed - especially to Mom - was very moving.

It's strange, but after months leading up to Dad's death, and three weeks now to process the emotions, that I wasn't ready for the emotions that washed over me when the guard slow-saluted Mom, and then knelt down to present her the flag.

This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful nation and the United States Army as a token of appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service.

The Honor Guard has a hard duty, and one that may seem unimportant.  After all, it's just one more old man leaving his grieving family behind.  The kindness and respect they devoted speaks volumes of them, and the Republic.

This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.

- William Lyon Phelps

A thought for today

I'm off to the funeral.  This is a meditation for those of us left behind.