Posting has been delayed because co-blogger and brother-from-another-mother ASM826 stopped by last night. Bourbon was drunk and the World's problems solved.
Now it's the blessing of the bikes. Back later.
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Friday, April 13, 2018
Thursday, April 12, 2018
So the Facebook CEO testified before Congress about privacy issues
Oooooh kaaaaay.
— Sal the Agorist (@SallyMayweather) April 12, 2018
I don't use Facebook. I don't have that choice with our Eye of Sauron.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
The Soldier Bear
When Nazi Germany invaded Russia in the Summer of 1941, the prospects facing the Polish soldiers captured by the Soviets improved immensely. Normally, they would have languished in work camps until most of them were starved or worked to death. But with the Blitzkrieg taking huge swaths of Soviet territory, Stalin decided that having more troops eager to fight the Germans was in his interest. So they were sent to the Caucasus mountains and crossed into British territory, where they were inducted into the British army.
Along the way, some of them found a bear cub and brought it along. They fed it condensed milk, and the bear grew up as a mascot of their 22nd Transport Company, Artillery Division, Polish 2nd Corp. They named him Wojtek.
He was very popular with the troops, and would play and wrestle with all takers. He would also mimic what they did - he loved being with the troops and they loved having him there. As the unit prepared to move into theater they got him official paperwork with Name, Rank, and Serial Number. The paperwork actually got him onto the transport when they shipped out to Italy.
The problem for the troops was what would they do with him when they went into combat. They were responsible for keeping the artillery batteries resupplied, and they took him on the trucks, keeping him chained to the truck while they moved the shells to the cannon. One of his closest friends stayed back with him.
Until one day in a particularly intense firefight, his comrade was called forward to be a forward observer. Wojtek was left alone. The unit struggled to move the heavy ammunition.
They they saw Wojtek, coming through the smoke. He was mimicking them by carrying ammunition. As a now full grown bear, he was easily the strongest member of the unit and they were able to keep up with the demand. After the battle, the unit adopted his likeness on their official badge.
In May 1945 the unit was shipped to northern England for demobilization. Wojtek found a home in the Edinburg Zoo where he had to adjust to a life without his buddy giving him some of their beer ration. He lived until 1963.
You can read more of his story here.
Along the way, some of them found a bear cub and brought it along. They fed it condensed milk, and the bear grew up as a mascot of their 22nd Transport Company, Artillery Division, Polish 2nd Corp. They named him Wojtek.
He was very popular with the troops, and would play and wrestle with all takers. He would also mimic what they did - he loved being with the troops and they loved having him there. As the unit prepared to move into theater they got him official paperwork with Name, Rank, and Serial Number. The paperwork actually got him onto the transport when they shipped out to Italy.
The problem for the troops was what would they do with him when they went into combat. They were responsible for keeping the artillery batteries resupplied, and they took him on the trucks, keeping him chained to the truck while they moved the shells to the cannon. One of his closest friends stayed back with him.
Until one day in a particularly intense firefight, his comrade was called forward to be a forward observer. Wojtek was left alone. The unit struggled to move the heavy ammunition.
They they saw Wojtek, coming through the smoke. He was mimicking them by carrying ammunition. As a now full grown bear, he was easily the strongest member of the unit and they were able to keep up with the demand. After the battle, the unit adopted his likeness on their official badge.
In May 1945 the unit was shipped to northern England for demobilization. Wojtek found a home in the Edinburg Zoo where he had to adjust to a life without his buddy giving him some of their beer ration. He lived until 1963.
You can read more of his story here.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Almost 80,000 78 RPM records now online
Free, at Archive.org:
Hat tip: Chris Lynch.
Last summer we checked in with the Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project, a volunteer effort to digitize thousands of 78rpm records—the oldest mass-produced recording medium. Drawing on the expertise and vast holdings of preservation company George Blood, L.P., the ARChive of Contemporary Music, and over 20 more institutions from around the world, the project aims to save the recorded sounds of the past, and not only those that have come down to us through the efforts of highly selective curators. What we think of as the sound of the early 20th century—the blues, jazz, country, classical, ragtime, gospel, bluegrass, etc.—only represents a popular sample.Get 'em here.
Hat tip: Chris Lynch.
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Happiness is a clean gun
(bang, bang) (shoot, shoot)
It was fun to have a range weekend with co-blogger and Brother-From-Another-Mother ASM826. We shot a lot of obscure and really interesting guns (range reports anon), but the companionship of friends and like minds is a special reward all its own.
What was particularly interesting (and which deserves a post of its own) is the range of old to new gun designs, of simple/complex designs that you really see by stripping and cleaning different guns all in the same evening.
For example, despite my love for the M1 Garand ("The Greatest Battle Implement Ever Designed"), disassembling it to clean it is non-trivial. The AR platform (besides being crazy accurate and firing a round which weighs less than half the venerable .30-06) is crazy easy to take apart to clean.
I guess that firearms design advances in 40 years, in many ways for the better*. No better way to see this than to strip and clean 8 or 9 different guns.
And a huge, huge thanks to ASM826 for hosting this, and to Dan for coming out with his arm in a sling (been there and feel your pain, brother) and to Ken for sharing some of the most interesting guns I've seen in ages.
And for anyone who actually, you know, doesn't get the reference from the post title, here's remedial education**. It's held up surprisingly well - musically speaking.
* Get offa my lawn, punk.
** Get offa my lawn, punk.
It was fun to have a range weekend with co-blogger and Brother-From-Another-Mother ASM826. We shot a lot of obscure and really interesting guns (range reports anon), but the companionship of friends and like minds is a special reward all its own.
What was particularly interesting (and which deserves a post of its own) is the range of old to new gun designs, of simple/complex designs that you really see by stripping and cleaning different guns all in the same evening.
For example, despite my love for the M1 Garand ("The Greatest Battle Implement Ever Designed"), disassembling it to clean it is non-trivial. The AR platform (besides being crazy accurate and firing a round which weighs less than half the venerable .30-06) is crazy easy to take apart to clean.
I guess that firearms design advances in 40 years, in many ways for the better*. No better way to see this than to strip and clean 8 or 9 different guns.
And a huge, huge thanks to ASM826 for hosting this, and to Dan for coming out with his arm in a sling (been there and feel your pain, brother) and to Ken for sharing some of the most interesting guns I've seen in ages.
And for anyone who actually, you know, doesn't get the reference from the post title, here's remedial education**. It's held up surprisingly well - musically speaking.
* Get offa my lawn, punk.
** Get offa my lawn, punk.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Prospects for future gun control - reasons for pessimism, reasons for optimism
Sebastian has a pretty insightful - and disturbing - post on why the gun grabbers will be stronger in the future. Essentially, it boils down to the gun grabbers don't have a lot of support but they have lots of money and organization, and the Media is shamelessly on their side. His point isn't so much that they will be getting stronger, but rather than we will be getting weaker over time. He lays out this argument clearly and efficiently.
On the optimistic side, The Czar of Muscovy thinks we've seen the high water mark of gun control:
The one thing I would add to his excellent analysis is something related to Sebastian's analysis: intensity counts. While the leaders and financiers of the gun control movement are firmly committed, support among their expected voting base sure seems awfully weak. The Czar rightly points out how the polls (likely intentionally) skew "support" for gun control to an artificial high.
On our side, though, the story is different. Gun supporters have been pretty thoroughly radicalized. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard "no more gun control, ever" comments. You never hear this in the Fake News, but Washington politicians seem to have got that message pretty strongly - the Democrats could have done something radical here in 2009 and 2010 when they controlled the White House, the House of Representatives, and had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. They didn't because the political calculus didn't show them a payoff. It wouldn't bring may more of their voters to the polls, but it would bring a lot of Republican voters to the polls.
Intensity counts, and is on our side. I don't see that changing. If anything, we probably can expect more support as older people die and younger people grow up and start to vote:
So while we need to make sure that we don't get cocky, I find pretty good reason to land on the optimistic side of things. And remember, the toothpaste isn't going back into the tube.
On the optimistic side, The Czar of Muscovy thinks we've seen the high water mark of gun control:
Yes, there's a web of useless and stupid gun laws - a web that just increased in size a little with the stupid and useless ban on bump stocks - but your Czar points out that these are useless and really the only way to satisfy the gun grabbers is to eliminate the Second Amendment and the American people are very not on that page. Your Czar points out that the gun grabbers have let the mask slip, with proposals to repeal the Amendment being made all over the place.Here’s why: we’re presently pruning gun control restraints back, nationally. More states than ever allow “Constitutional Carry,” and more are in line to adopt it. Even Chicago, epicenter for bad management decisions, is begrudgingly accepting the reality of legal concealed carry. Gun ownership is up, the number of gun stores is greater than it’s been in two generations, and overall, gun-related homicides are down.And yet we still have 20,000 gun laws on the books. Or 50,000. Or maybe 15,000…no one really knows because indexing gun laws at every level of government in this country is like counting dandelions in a field: as soon as you tally up a section, new ones blossom in areas you just counted.
The one thing I would add to his excellent analysis is something related to Sebastian's analysis: intensity counts. While the leaders and financiers of the gun control movement are firmly committed, support among their expected voting base sure seems awfully weak. The Czar rightly points out how the polls (likely intentionally) skew "support" for gun control to an artificial high.
On our side, though, the story is different. Gun supporters have been pretty thoroughly radicalized. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard "no more gun control, ever" comments. You never hear this in the Fake News, but Washington politicians seem to have got that message pretty strongly - the Democrats could have done something radical here in 2009 and 2010 when they controlled the White House, the House of Representatives, and had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. They didn't because the political calculus didn't show them a payoff. It wouldn't bring may more of their voters to the polls, but it would bring a lot of Republican voters to the polls.
Intensity counts, and is on our side. I don't see that changing. If anything, we probably can expect more support as older people die and younger people grow up and start to vote:
Over the last several weeks I've talked to several people about guns. Without fail, every one has been surprised to learn that young people are the less supportive of gun-grabbing than old folks are. Reuters-Ipsos polling shows it and the GSScorroborates. The major media's mendacity strikes again--though in fairness, NPR (!) has given it some attention.He has charts and data and stuff.
So while we need to make sure that we don't get cocky, I find pretty good reason to land on the optimistic side of things. And remember, the toothpaste isn't going back into the tube.
The ATF asked for public comments on their proposed rule banning Bump Stocks
Brock Townsend obliged:
The Government's War on Cancer hasn't cured anybody.There's more, so much more. The only thing to add is that "The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms" should be a convenience store. But this is awesome.
The Government's War on Drugs hasn't even slowed down drug use.
The Government's War on Fraud, Waste and Abuse hasn't saved me a nickel.
The Government's control of Forestry has only produces epic forest fires.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Vince Gill, Gregg Allman, and Zac Brown - Midnight Rider
The late, great, Gregg Allman with some friends. I've been derelict lately in my mid-week music postings. I hope that this will be a mea culpa.
Holy cow
This is bad. Really, really bad. Elder Gods bad.
Damnitall, we need some Common Sense satellite control, right quick.
Damnitall, we need some Common Sense satellite control, right quick.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
A College introduced a rigorous Western Civ class, and something weird happened
Demand was double what they expected:
And the reading list is excellent. I've read probably two thirds of the list, and cannot recommend Wagner's Tristan und Isolde highly enough - enough that I've posted that it is perhaps the most hauntingly lovely music ever written. It is said that a civilization can be studied by its deeds, by its thoughts, and by its art. The art is the only one of the three that doesn't lie. I'd add this to the canon:
Will Durant's volume on the Renaissance is outstanding about the transformation of art that occurred in the 15th Century, and spends quite some time on this fresco by Raphael. He wasn't just a turtle, you know.
After all, that's the point - introduce the most important parts of Western Civilization. Well done, Oklahoma.
Hat tip: Ann Althouse, who has some interesting thoughts on the matter.
LTRS 3803, the first part of the two-semester, team-taught course at the University of Oklahoma ... goes against all the conventional wisdom. It’s modeled on [W. H.] Auden’s course, with a few changes. The instructors — Kyle Harper, a classicist and the university’s provost; the historian Wilfred McClay; and David Anderson, a professor of English — have spread it out over an entire year, and they’ve excised a few books (Dante’s Paradiso, Baudelaire and Rimbaud, Kafka). But they added The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Paradise Lost, Robinson Crusoe, Pride and Prejudice, Nietzsche, Invisible Man, and other 20th-century masterpieces such as Derek Walcott’s neo-Homeric epic Omeros. They dropped most of the operas but kept Don Giovanni and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. They speak frankly in the course description of taking "delight in the Western canon" and hold fast to themes of little currency in the research world: destiny, God and "the gods," a meaningful life, authority.
When enrollment opened last semester, the unexpected happened. The course filled up within minutes. Harper had already warned his students, "This is the hardest class you will ever take." The syllabus was posted online in advance, so that students knew exactly what they were getting into. The course meets a general-education requirement at Oklahoma, but so do many other courses with half the workload. To accommodate the unexpected demand, the class was expanded from 22 to 30 students, the maximum number that the assigned classroom could hold.It's higher now. And while I whine about the rigor of my own study of Western Civ, this strikes me as precisely correct:
One fellow grumbled that he had to do three times as much work as he did in his other classes. The rest nodded. But you could hear in his words the self-respect that comes from doing more work than the norm, from climbing the highest hill while your peers dog it. Another student said that the page-count of the syllabus had flattered her, that it showed the professors respected her enough to demand that she take on a heavy load of historic literature. "This is what I came to college for," another said. One more chimed in, "This class is changing my life."The flame of knowledge flickers, but has yet to be extinguished in the Fever Swamp of today's Academy.
And the reading list is excellent. I've read probably two thirds of the list, and cannot recommend Wagner's Tristan und Isolde highly enough - enough that I've posted that it is perhaps the most hauntingly lovely music ever written. It is said that a civilization can be studied by its deeds, by its thoughts, and by its art. The art is the only one of the three that doesn't lie. I'd add this to the canon:
 |
| Image via Il Wik |
After all, that's the point - introduce the most important parts of Western Civilization. Well done, Oklahoma.
Hat tip: Ann Althouse, who has some interesting thoughts on the matter.
Too much Western Civilization
Almost 5 years ago, I scored big at a library used book sale:
I've gotten through volume IX, The Age Of Voltaire. Nine down, and two to go. Unexpectedly, I've started to run down. I cruised through the first four with relish, and Volume 3 saw me through the convalescence from the motorcycle accident. The nurses thought I was a little unusual bringing a book like this to the daily hour long antibiotic infusions, but you can make some progress when you're stuck in a chair. Unless you forget the damn book. The volume on the Renaissance surprised me at how interesting it was, but that was sort of peak interest.
Since then, it's been slower going, and it's been harder to keep myself focused. I found myself skipping over a fair amount in volume IX. I think that it's because the earlier books covered a lot more time, and so were more of a survey - and this is why I got them. The more recent the time period, the more detail there is. Quite frankly, a lot of the detail isn't particularly interesting.
I guess this means that I've taken the measure of my nerdiness, and have found my limits. I think I'm going to take a hiatus on the last two volumes for a bit. Just not up to wading through 800 pages on Rousseau.
I was out on the Motorcycle, and while waiting in traffic saw a hand lettered sign "Used Book Sale". Well, I'm constitutionally incapable of passing that sort of thing up, and so pulled into the parking lot. It was the Milton (GA) Library raising money. It was late in their display time, and so most of the selection was pretty well picked over.Got them for $1 a book. Yes, I am a nerd.
Fortunately, my tastes are a little (ahem) eclectic. I cruised over to the history section, and saw this:
That's The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant. 10,000 pages of Pulitzer Prize winningoverview of Western Civilization.
I've gotten through volume IX, The Age Of Voltaire. Nine down, and two to go. Unexpectedly, I've started to run down. I cruised through the first four with relish, and Volume 3 saw me through the convalescence from the motorcycle accident. The nurses thought I was a little unusual bringing a book like this to the daily hour long antibiotic infusions, but you can make some progress when you're stuck in a chair. Unless you forget the damn book. The volume on the Renaissance surprised me at how interesting it was, but that was sort of peak interest.
Since then, it's been slower going, and it's been harder to keep myself focused. I found myself skipping over a fair amount in volume IX. I think that it's because the earlier books covered a lot more time, and so were more of a survey - and this is why I got them. The more recent the time period, the more detail there is. Quite frankly, a lot of the detail isn't particularly interesting.
I guess this means that I've taken the measure of my nerdiness, and have found my limits. I think I'm going to take a hiatus on the last two volumes for a bit. Just not up to wading through 800 pages on Rousseau.
Monday, April 2, 2018
Happy Birthday to the Royal Air Force
100 years old today. There are a great many great stories from that century of daring-do, but this is one I just ran across:
Angels and Ministers of Grace, defend us. Click through to read the amazing story, which is very well told.
Hat tip: Samizdata.
Just after midday on 5 April 1968 RAF pilot Alan Pollock, senior operational flight commander on No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron, flew Hawker Hunter FGA.9 jet XF442 through the span of Tower Bridge in London. The unauthorised action - which cost him his air force career - was part of a personal protest against the RAF's decision not to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a flypast over the capital.Here's a mockup of what it would have looked like, although eye witnesses said that the plane was even closer to the top span than shown here:
Angels and Ministers of Grace, defend us. Click through to read the amazing story, which is very well told.
Hat tip: Samizdata.
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Classical All Stars for Easter
This Holy Day calls for the best of the best. First up, the finale from Handel's Messiah. We typically hear it at Christmas, but it was written to tell the Easter story and was first performed at Easter.
The Book of Isaiah tells that on the last day a great trumpet will sound, and the dead shall be raised. Handel included this in the Messiah but Henry Purcell - one of his contemporaries - perhaps did it even better in the Trumpet Voluntary.
And as a recessional for this post is my very favorite hymn, one that would never fail to thrill.
The Lord is risen, alleluia!
The Book of Isaiah tells that on the last day a great trumpet will sound, and the dead shall be raised. Handel included this in the Messiah but Henry Purcell - one of his contemporaries - perhaps did it even better in the Trumpet Voluntary.
And as a recessional for this post is my very favorite hymn, one that would never fail to thrill.
The Lord is risen, alleluia!
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Country Music Allstars - Will The Circle Be Unbroken
About the only thing that could top that version, in fact, is this 1989 performance from the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Not only was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band there, but a list of everyone who was anyone in Country Music: Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Earl Scruggs, The Carter Family, Emmylou Harris, Chet Atkins, Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, and Bruce Hornsby. Among others. It's sort of a Borepatch Saturday Redneck reunion.
It's a worthy song for this holy weekend.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (Songwriters: Ada Habbershom, Charles Gabriel; lyrics rewriten by A.P. Carter):
I was standing by my window
On a cold and cloudy day
When I saw the hearse come rolling
For to carry my mother away
Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by?
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Well, I went back home, home was lonely
For my mother she was gone
And all my family there was cryin'
For our home felt sad and alone
Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by?
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
Undertaker, undertaker, undertaker
Won't you please drive slow?
For that lady you are haulin'
Lord, I hate to see her go
Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by?
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
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