Musings and brain squeezings and goings on at Dasa De Garabaldi...

First off, my nemesis has behaved...

This is the ceiling fan I have in our kitchen, I have had to take that thing down several times due to it "drooping", I had replaced the screws several times and it didn't work.  I was going to try one more time before I totally replaced the junction box.  I used the next size up self tapping screws and ran them into the threads so it would cut new threads as they went in.  So far it has worked....
     Also we have snow......Here in Georgia...south of Atlanta.....Snow......Wow

You believe it...Snow...?

I am shocked......Well I will have fun driving to work tonight......*bleh*

I was reading this Blog and it did resonate with me, I have commented in the past that

This is my first meme I ever made and it was made before I learned about meme generator.  It was from a show called "Babylon5". 
    Well anyway I have commented that we as a society has lost our way, what has made us strong is now being disparaged.  I have great concern that we will go like the Roman Republic/Empire where the values that made the republic were then cast out and the people became soft and were supplanted by the barbarians that were brought in to do what the Romans didn't.  They learned the words, but didn't embrace the culture and the values.   I keep getting parallels from back then to now.
    Here is the snippet from that Blog I was Reading.

The English divine William Inge attributed the catastrophe of the Roman Empire to these same two causes: an endogenous failure of discipline and the exogenous challenge of a foreign element.  The first cause, a failure of discipline, seems to follow on the heels of empire as surely as night follows day.  As I wrote in an October post,

“To build an empire takes men of a special character: men who are bold and brave, and who believe they have a right to rule.  But once an empire is built, it remorselessly destroys this character.”

Or if you would like that from a greater authority than I, here is Edward Gibbon:

“A secret poison had been introduced by long peace and lethargic inactivity into the very bowels of the empire.  Military spirit no longer existed. . . and the commanding genius of Rome forsook the polluted habitations of a luxurious and effeminate people.” (1)

And, likewise, Inge, who tells us that, once Rome had made herself “mistress of the world,” “the Roman no longer felt himself a member of a militant community.”  The long fight was over, and the time had come to taste the deadly fruits of victory (2).

“The idleness of the citizens, their extravagance and luxury, their insatiable greed of money, above all, their habit of vicious celibacy . . .” (2)

Remember that celibacy does not necessarily entail chastity, only childlessness through avoidance of marriage or a marriage that is deliberately barren.  When either course is accompanied by sexual indulgence, you have what Thomas Malthus called “vicious celibacy,” or what the Roman historian Tacitus described as “limiting the number of children” through abortion, infanticide, or sodomy of one sort or another (3).
Needless to say, once they had conquered the continent and established their empire, those Old American pioneers did not refuse the deadly fruits of victory.  Many pretended they were still driving their ducklings to the water, but ever growing numbers fell into a fatal dream-world of idleness, luxury, greed, and vicious celibacy.

     I don't know what the future holds and I fear for what my son will inherit because so many of my countrymen has forsaken their birthright of American Exceptionalism and embraced the snake oil being peddled by fakers and shysters and other leftist where we are being made to believe that we are a toxic culture and deserve to get wiped out.  Once we the descendents of Western thoughts are eradicated, the culture of the individual will no longer exist and it will matter not who you are, but who your tribe is, your family is, who your ethnic group is, who your gender is.  We will truly become the nameless faceless masses .that 1984 and many other movies and books have described. 
      

"Guard Duty on Yavin 4"

I have blogged before about "Angry Staff Officer", and like I have said, you can blame my friend "Mac" for turning me onto the guy.  Well anyway, "Angry Staff Officer", uses Star Wars  references and other cultural icons to describe Military Life.  he also uses it as a training aid, because the movies are understood by everyone who joins the service and it is easy to make a point using "Star Wars". 


Secret Base on [REDACTED]
Dear Mom,
Taking a moment to drop you a line. As you know, life here in the Rebel Alliance has been kind of crazy of late, what with the whole Death Star business and everything. You hear about Alderaan? I’m not even sure if I believe the news, sounds like Imperial propaganda trying to throw us off. Has definitely caused a lot of action here on base. There’s ships coming and going like you wouldn’t believe.
As you know, I took that promotion to sergeant in the Alliance’s military police corps. It’s definitely a different world from the maintenance bays. There, we hardly had to do anything; the droids handled all the work orders and we could just hide out in the hangers playing games or sleeping. But now, we’ve got real jobs to do. We’ve been told that our orders come direct from Mon Mothma herself, which is pretty crazy.
I guess you’re probably wondering what it is we do. It’s not too much to say that we’re the real lynchpin holding this base together. Security is the most important thing, of course. We’ve got patrols and gate guards that handle things on the ground to keep our perimeter safe. Really, those X-Wing pilots couldn’t do their jobs without us, because if we weren’t there the whole base would be overrun with who-knows-what: animals and locals and Stormtroopers, probably. But we keep this place locked down. I served as shift NCOIC for our quick reaction force for a few weeks and that was pretty cool. We only got called out once because there was a malfunctioning droid that was trying to wander off post, but still: an important job.
Now I’m part of the Speed Control and Abatement Team (SCAT) which is a pretty big deal. See, safety is paramount in everything we do. In fact, according to the last briefing we had at the company level, safety is our number one priority. As Lieutenant Porkins says – he’s Red Squadron’s safety officer, by the way – “we can’t fly if we’re all dead from accidents.” And you’ve got to admit, he’s got a point. In the last safety office review, it was found that approach speeds for vessels coming to the landing pad were responsible for 73% of all ship-to-ship accidents. So now it is our responsibility to ensure that those accidents are kept to a minimum. To do that, we use scanners to analyze the ship’s approach vector and speed and if it exceeds the posted standards we ticket that ship’s captain. I tell you what, in the past three weeks I’ve written 15 tickets and there’s been a huge drop in violations. I even got Admiral Ackbar coming in too hot one time. He accused me of a speed trap but the scanner doesn’t lie. The worst chewing out I ever got was from Lieutenant Wedge Antilles, though. I almost thought he was going to draw his blaster on me, but he paid his fine in the end.

This is actually me, mom. (Lucasfilm Ltd)

Now, don’t get me wrong, it can get pretty boring up in those towers. I pass my 4 hour shift by counting birds – although the fighter ships have really done a number on those birds with their engines. There’s dead birds everywhere. We actually have to send out details to collect them off the landing pads, otherwise they can get sucked into engines and it makes more mess than a Bantha with the runs.
Other stuff I do when not on tower duty is to do patrols to ensure everyone is wearing the correct safety gear – we’ve got this panel you wear at night that lights up so that you don’t get run over, and it’s mandatory for wear but for some reason people don’t like it. Princess Leia Organa tried to get away without wearing it but we reported her to Mon Mothma. Unfortunately, I don’t think Mon Mothma took us seriously. She will when someone gets run over by a speeder, that’s for sure.
I’m not sure the head shed takes what we do seriously. A few days ago some rogue personnel took off without clearance in a captured Imperial shuttle – no paperwork, nothing, just some made-up callsign of Rogue One. Well, I filed all the correct paperwork, hit them with a 2000 credit fine, but it got all hushed up for some reason. Later that day they scrambled like half the fleet. Still don’t know what that was about but things were crazy for a while: no manifests, no clearances, and no accountability. I don’t know what things are coming to. Blue Squadron never even checked back in.
But mom, get this! Earlier today, a Corellian freighter came in WAY over the speed limit and I saw Princess Organa get off it with some scruffy looking folks and a real Wookie! They totally do exist! And I always thought you were making them up to try to scare me into eating my vegetables. Anyways, the base has been on lockdown since they arrived and I can see a lot of movement on the flight pads. Looks like Red and Gold Squadrons are prepping for something. Wish they’d file their manifests properly.
Damn, there goes that Corellian freighter again! Gotta go, mom, lots of paperwork to do to write that guy up. I don’t know who he thinks he is.
Love to all,
Sergeant Issa Prellian
RA MP Corps
“Vigilance is a Force Multiplier”

Monday Music "The Night they drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band and Joan Baez

It is funny that I decided to run this song on MLK day, that was totally by accident, I was thinking of a song from the 70's and the Joan Baez version popped in my head.  I was almost done setting it up and getting ready to "publish" it and realized that today is MLK day. 
     There is a second attempt to drive Old Dixie down, the first one is what happened during the war between the states and now the second is all the Social Justice warriors going after all that "is Southern" from statues, flags and monuments.  Like they want to scrub the history books clean and imprint their version of events. 

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian-American roots rock group the Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album. Levon Helm provided the lead vocals. The song is a first-person narrative relating the economic and social distress experienced by the protagonist, a poor white Southerner, during the last year of the American Civil War, when George Stoneman was raiding southwest Virginia. Frequently appearing on lists of the best rock songs of all time, it has been cited as an early example of the genre known as roots rock.
Joan Baez recorded a version of the song that became a top-five chart hit in late 1971.

The song was written by Robbie Robertson. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes to the 2000 reissue of the Band's second album, The Band, it has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on peoples, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana. The lyrics tell of the last days of the American Civil War, portraying the suffering of the protagonist, a poor white Southerner.

Robertson stated that he had the music to the song in his head but at first had no idea what it was to be about. Then the concept came to him and he did research on the subject, relying heavily on the Dunning School theories of the period. Levon Helm, a native of Arkansas, stated that he assisted in the research for the lyrics.  In his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire, Helm wrote, "Robbie and I worked on 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' up in Woodstock. I remember taking him to the library so he could research the history and geography of the era and make General Robert E. Lee come out with all due respect."

Dixie is the historical nickname for the states making up the Confederate States of America. The first lines of the lyrics refer to one of George Stoneman's raids behind Confederate lines attacking the railroads of Danville, Virginia at the end of the Civil War in 1865:

Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train,
Till Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again...

The Band frequently performed the song in concert, and it is included on the group's live albums Rock of Ages (1972) and Before the Flood (1974). The song was included in the concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976 which was recorded in the documentary film about the concert, The Last Waltz, as well as the soundtrack album from the film.
The last time the song was performed by Helm was in The Last Waltz (1976). Helm refused to play the song afterwards. Although it has long been believed that the reason for Helm's refusal to play the song was a dispute with Robertson over songwriting credits, according to Garth Hudson it was due to Helm's dislike for Joan Baez's version.

It was #245 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Pitchfork Media named it the forty-second best song of the Sixties. The song is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" and Time magazine's All-Time 100.
Ralph J. Gleason (in the review in Rolling Stone (U.S. edition only) of October 1969) explains why this song has such an impact on listeners:

Nothing I have read … has brought home the overwhelming human sense of history that this song does. The only thing I can relate it to at all is The Red Badge of Courage. It's a remarkable song, the rhythmic structure, the voice of Levon and the bass line with the drum accents and then the heavy close harmony of Levon, Richard and Rick in the theme, make it seem impossible that this isn't some traditional material handed down from father to son straight from that winter of 1865 to today. It has that ring of truth and the whole aura of authenticity.

The lyrics of the song discuss the destruction of the Danville rail line that carried supplies for the Confederate army at Petersburg.

The song has become a part of the ideology of Lost Cause of the Confederacy reflecting the perception of the South prostrate in defeat.

The most successful version of the song was released by Joan Baez in 1971. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US in October that year and spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 20 song for 1971. The version reached number six in the pop charts in the UK in October 1971. The song became a Gold record.

 Cover Art by Kris Kristofferson

The Baez recording had some changes in the lyrics. Baez later told Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder that she initially learned the song by listening to the recording on the Band's album, and had never seen the printed lyrics at the time she recorded it, and thus sang the lyrics as she had (mis)heard them. In more recent years in her concerts, Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson.

Quick post in the "sh!thole" comment

   You know....the people most outraged about this and screaming the loudest about the President and his comment made about "people from a sh!thole country wanting to come here."  This was made by a democratic senator and of course people are offended and screaming "Racist" and other things.  Well a couple of observations....First off, the people that are screaming the loudest already hate Trump, if he walked on water they would grouse that he didn't wash his feet first or something.  second and this is important....those same people have never been outside the United States except perhaps Canada, Western Europe or Japan.  I have been to a quite a few countries that once you get off the airplane and breath the air...well you smell "shit".  It is in the air. 
     Also there is a rush to bring in people from 3rd world countries into this country an and they can't or will not acclimate to this culture, their kids adjust better, but the first generation will not adapt, it is too alien of an experience, the culture gap is too wide.  Also I will go out on a limb, why are we trying to bring in people that will not assimilate into our culture, they insist on keeping theirs and they are perfectly happy using the "public assistance" that we provide and in their eyes it is a "Jizya Tax" or tribute that a lesser culture pays to the dominant culture.  I remember reading a few days ago, that the religion of islam is the 2nd largest religion in the United States...what will happen once the Christian religion is replaced and they implement shaira law.  What then?

Airbus Ready to Phase out A380 if deal falls through.

I have Blogged quite a few times on the A380 series of aircraft.  I as a whole like the Airbus series of aircraft, I find them from a Maintenance standpoint easy to work on and Maintenance friendly.  However the A380 never really stirred my passion like the Boeing 747 did and some of the other aircraft.   I honestly believe that instead of scrapping them, t.hey will turn them into specialty aircraft or freighters.  Who knows what the future hold for them

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus is drawing up contingency plans to phase out production of the world’s largest jetliner, the A380 superjumbo, if it fails to win a key order from Dubai’s Emirates, three people familiar with the matter said.

FILE PHOTO: Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates' chairman and CEO (R), Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus (L), and Tim Clark President of Emirates Airlines, during a delivery ceremony of Emirates' 100th Airbus A380 at the German headquarters of aircraft company Airbus in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, November 3, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

The moment of truth for the slow-selling airliner looms after just 10 years in service and leaves one of Europe’s most visible international symbols hanging by a thread, despite a major airline investment in new cabins unveiled this month.
“If there is no Emirates deal, Airbus will start the process of ending A380 production,” a person briefed on the plans said. A supplier added such a move was logical due to weak demand.
Airbus and Emirates declined to comment. Airbus also declined to say how many people work on the project.
Any shutdown is expected to be gradual, allowing Airbus to produce orders it has in hand, mainly from Emirates.
It has enough orders to last until early next decade at current production rates, according to a Reuters analysis.
The A380 was developed at a cost of 11 billion euros to carry some 500 people and challenge the reign of the Boeing 747.
But demand for these four-engined goliaths has fallen as airlines choose smaller twin-engined models, which are easier to fill and cheaper to maintain.
Emirates, however, has been a strong believer in the A380 and is easily the largest customer with total orders of 142 aircraft, of which it has taken just over 100.
Talks between Airbus and Emirates over a new order for 36 superjumbos worth $16 billion broke down at the Dubai Airshow last month. Negotiations are said to have resumed, but there are no visible signs that a deal is imminent.
Although airlines such as British Airways have expressed interest in the A380, Airbus is reluctant to keep factories open without the certainty that a bulk Emirates order would provide.
Emirates, for its part, wants a guarantee that Airbus will keep production going for a decade to protect its investment.

FILE PHOTO: Visitors walk down an Airbus A380, showing a picture of United Arab Emirates' Former President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, during the Dubai Airshow in Dubai, United Arab Emirates November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Satish Kumar/File Photo

A decision to cancel would mark a rupture between Airbus and one of its largest customers and tie Emirates’ future growth to recent Boeing orders. European sources say that reflects growing American influence in the Gulf under President Donald Trump, but U.S. and UAE industry sources deny politics are involved.
There are also potential hurdles to a deal over engine choices and after-sales support.

SAFETY NET

Yet if talks succeed, European sources say there is a glimmer of hope for the double-deck jet, which Airbus says will become more popular with airlines due to congestion.

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus logo is pictured during the delivery of the new Airbus A380 aircraft to Singapore Airlines at the French headquarters of aircraft company Airbus in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Singapore Airlines, which first introduced the A380 to passengers in 2007, showcased an $850 million cabin re-design this month and expressed confidence in the model’s future.
Airbus hopes to use an Emirates order to stabilise output and establish a safety net from which to attract A380 sales to other carriers, but has ruled out trying to do this the other way round, industry sources said.
As of the end of November, Airbus had won orders for 317 A380s and delivered 221, leaving 96 unfilled orders.
But based on airlines’ intentions or finances, 47 of those are unlikely to be delivered, according to industry sources, which halves the number of jets in play.
Airbus needs to sell at least another 30 to keep lines open for 10 years and possibly more to justify the price concessions likely to be demanded by any new buyers.
To bridge the gap, Airbus plans to cut output to six a year beyond 2019, from 12 in 2018 and 8 in 2019, even if it means producing at a loss, Reuters recently reported.
Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier confirmed this month Airbus was looking at cutting output to 6-7 a year.
If Airbus does decide to wind down production, some believe Emirates will ask Airbus to deliver the remaining 41 it has on order and then keep most A380s in service as long as possible.
Even so, some A380s are likely to be heading for scrap.

Another Dire prediction from the Climate Change Crowd.....Sheesh

The Chicken Littles of the Political world were at it again shrieking that the world was warming, and the Polar Bears will die, the world is cooling and there is a new Ice age coming and Oh well lets call it climate change to trick a new generation of idiots. in trouble and if we don't enact it everyone will die.   To me "Climate Change" is environmental Marxism, using the environment to shaft the western based world while China, Pakistan, India and everyone else gets a pass.   Here is the Latest utterance by one of them, I pulled this off Drudge.  I am sure that he makes Washington State proud.




Washington state’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee warned there was “just 59 days” to save future generations from “an endless cycle of crop-killing droughts one year, and rivers spilling their banks the next.”

Inslee went on a lengthy Twitter rant in efforts to convince the state legislature to pass legislation to tax carbon dioxide emissions. Washington residents voted down Inslee’s last carbon tax plan by a wide margin in 2016.
The state legislature’s session ends in 59 days, on March 8. Democrats have a slim majority in both state legislative chambers.

Inslee wants lawmakers to pass a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.
Inslee’s plan would tax carbon dioxide emissions at $20 a ton in 2019, that would gradually rise at 3.5 percent above inflation each following year. Inslee’s office estimates it will raise $3.3 billion over the next four years.
About $950 million would go toward education programs. The rest would go toward green energy programs and research, water infrastructure, wildfire mitigation. Some money would offset taxes or go to poor families.
The plan could raise household electricity prices five percent, and gas prices by about 10 percent, according to official estimates.
Inslee’s first carbon tax plan failed in 2016 after liberal groups couldn’t agree how to spend the revenues it was expected to raise. Inslee also proposed a cap-and-trade program, that both Democrats and Republicans rejected in 2015.
If Inslee’s carbon tax plan passes, the legislation would have no measurable impact on projected future global warming. Indeed, even if the U.S. as a whole stopped emitting, the impact would be extremely small, based on government climate models.

   Here is a link to his Twitter feed and you can see many references to Al Gore in this.

Different Rifles of the Armies of WWI

  Part of the reason for the bloodbath of WWI, was that the tactics haven't kept up with weapon development.  There was a taste of it in the  U.S. Civil War that the Europeans discounted because it was being fought by the colonials and the average European looked down at the Americans and their military experience.  The Germans and the French were considered the premier military power of the age.  They also had discounted the British experience in the Boer wars with trench warfare which the American Civil war also demonstrated.    The early part of WWI was fought with linear or Napoleonic tactics that haven't changed since Waterloo, but the weapons were far more deadly.

“The only real power comes out of a long rifle.” – Joseph Stalin.
During WWI, millions of men were given rifles and sent into the trenches to fight. They were the weapons that turned civilians into soldiers. Machine-guns and artillery might have defined the war, but the rifle was a soldier’s constant companion. On the Western Front in particular, what made for a good rifle changed. Sitting in trenches for months at a time, enduring the terrible weather, then fighting in rushed advances and brutal close combat, men needed a rugged weapon that could take a battering.
A high rate of fire was essential. The range was less critical, guns needing to be accurate to 400 yards rather than the pre-war goal of 800 yards. A short weapon was better, as it was easier to wield in a confined trench. Did the leading weapons live up to those standards?

Rifle No.1 Mk III
Going into the war, the British had a weapon that met the requirements.
Rifle No.1 Mk III was the latest variation of the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle, which had been brought into service in 1907. It had been developed during the Boer War when the British found their standard rifle too long for cavalry use. It led to a hybrid weapon whose shortness proved valuable although the cavalry it was made for became obsolete.
Although its rear-lug locking mechanism was, in theory, weaker than those of some other weapons, it worked smoothly and gave users minimal trouble. It’s smooth reliability allowed British soldiers to achieve remarkably high rates of fire.
The magazine carried ten powerful 0.303-inch rounds.
Modifications were made to the weapon, stripping away features meant for range and precision. It made the rifle easier to produce, a vital factor when so many men needed to be armed quickly. The resulting No.1 Mk III* was so efficient it stayed in service throughout WWII

Springfield Model 1903
Like the No.1 Mk III, the American Springfield Model 1903 was a compromise weapon, somewhere between a traditional rifle and the carbines of the period. It had a Mauser mechanism, the best available in the world, produced under license at the Springfield Arsenal. As a result, it had a bolt action that was easy to use. Nicely balanced, it was more accurate than most rifles of the period, firing to target-shooting standards.
The Springfield had a five-round box magazine carrying 0.3-inch caliber bullets. With a muzzle velocity of 2,800 feet per second, it was more powerful than the No.1Mk III, but not as fast firing.

US Marines with M1903 rifles and bayonets in France, 1918.

Lebel Model 1886
Going into WWI, the French suffered from the same problem they had in the Franco-Prussian war 44 years before – their weapons were inferior to those of their opponents.
The standard French weapon was the Lebel Model 1886. As its name implies, it was older than the weapons of France’s allies. Its tubular magazine, which carried 8mm caliber bullets, was slow to load. At 13.4 inches long, it was over half a foot longer than the Springfield and the No.1 Mk III. Its tendency to explode made it a danger to its users.
Other French weapons had their problems too. The Berthier Model 1907 added a box magazine to the Lebel, but it still only held three rounds. The Berthier and Gras carbines were shorter. Combined with powerful bullets it gave them excessive muzzle flash, and like the Berthier 1907, they only had small magazines.

FN-Mauser Model 1895

The Belgian Fabrique Nationale went on to become one of the leading weapons manufacturers of the 20^th century, but at the start of WWI, they were still finding their feet.
The FN-Mauser Model 1895 was an unremarkable weapon, although an adequate one for the ordinary Belgian infantryman. It was long, especially when equipped with its large bayonet. Its five-round magazine carried 0.301-inch ammunition, almost the same as the British were firing.

Mosin-Nagant Model 1891

Before Communist governments created a doctrine of mass mobilization, the Russians were fielding a weapon suitable for that strategy. The Mosin-Nagant Model 1891 was unexceptional but sturdy; a weapon that could take a battering in the hands of inexperienced soldiers. Like the FN-Mauser Model 1895, it was a relatively long weapon with a five-round magazine. Its 7.62mm ammunition was slightly smaller than that of the Belgian gun.

Russian Imperial infantry of World War I armed with Mosin–Nagant rifles.

Fucile Modello 91

The Fucile Modello 91, also known as the Mannlicher-Carcano, was the standard weapon of the Italian army. It was another long weapon and an underpowered one, firing 0.256-inch caliber bullets with a muzzle velocity of 2,067 feet per second. Its only advantage was a six-round box magazine.

Gewehr 98

Germany had a strong tradition of superior weaponry. They fielded one of the best rifles of the war.
The Gewehr 98 was a Mauser creation. Its three-lug front-locking system was not as smooth as the mechanism on the No.1 Mk III. Together with the five-round magazine, it gave German infantry a slower rate of fire than British Tommies. It could still put out as much firepower as most rifles of the period. Its biggest drawback was its 49.2-inch length.
Critically, the Gewehr 98 was incredibly sturdy and consistent. Superior manufacturing meant that, even as Germany struggled for resources later in the war, the rifle was always reliable and could take a battering in the trenches.  The Basic Gewehr 98 design also served Germany in WWII, although it was the Gewehr "K" variant, not as long as the original, still was the basic rifle of the German Military.

A German sniper with Gewehr 98k and 4× Zeiss ZF42 optical sight and spotter in position, observing at Voronezh. Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-216-0417-19 / Dieck / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Mannlicher Model 1895

Austro-Hungarian troops carried a very similar weapon to their German allies. The Mannlicher Model 1895 was another long bolt-action rifle with a straight pull mechanism. The integral five-round magazine was filled with 8mm ammunition. It was an effective, reliable weapon that was widely used in southern and eastern Europe and was influential on later weapon design.
Source:
*Christopher Chant (1986), The New Encyclopedia of Handguns


.

Monday Music "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth Wind and Fire

I was listening to the 70's channel on the way home from work on my Sirius/XM and they happen to be playing a string of Disco hits in a row and this song came on and I found myself grooving to the song on the way home.  

"Boogie Wonderland" is a 1979 disco hit song by American R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire, featuring The Emotions. Released as a single on March 20, 1979 by The American Record Company and Columbia Records, The song was certified Gold by the RIAA on May 29, 1979. "Boogie Wonderland" was written by Allee Willis and Jon Lind, and recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire. It was included on the album I Am. It is regarded as a classic of the disco era, peaking at number 14 on the disco chart. On other US charts, "Boogie Wonderland" peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

"Boogie Wonderland" was written for The Emotions - cousins of Earth, Wind, & Fire's lead singer - and was commercially successful, selling over a million copies and being certified gold in the US (until the RIAA lowered sales levels required for certified singles in 1989, a gold certification was awarded for sales of one million units) and gold by the British Phonographic Industry for selling over 400,000 copies in the U.K.

More Pithy Thoughts...

I have spent besides the weekend working, spending the time with the Family and real world stuff, and I have a recalcitrant kitchen fan I am dealing with.  Hopefully I will finally get the problem fixed on Monday.  It isn't the fan that is the problem, it is the box in the ceiling, the screws holding the brace is pulling out. 

I also am watching "The Running Man" and I used to watch this movie all the time in the barracks in the 80's but haven't watched it in years....This movie screams "The 80's". especially the hair style..

On a different note, I have heard that the FBI will finally start investigating the Clinton Foundation...I don't have hope though, I think the corruption in the FBI runs too deep, especially the higher ranks

And  North Korea has been ratcheting the rhetoric

 and I heard that the South Koreans caught a Chinese ship delivering oil to the North Koreans despite the UN Embargo.

    And finally Iran is having another "Arab Spring", apparently the White House under Trump is treating this differently than the Obama White House did.

I am hopeful that the results will be different this time because the Iranians under the Mad Mullah's have been stirring things up in the Middle East.  Iran wants to be THE Regional player in the Middle East. They want to wipe Israel off the map, their QUD forces are responsible for many American deaths from IED and their variants and they have passed their skills to the locals.

Pithy Thoughts....Kinda short...

First off, I have been carrying my S&WShield concealed carry, except at work and I have been carrying it with one in the pipe.

 This is different for me because in the past I carried, but I didn't have one stuffed in the chamber.  It is a bit different mindset.
     On a different note...It has been real cold...

It has been at night while I am working about 15 degrees not including the wind chill factor.  There is a reason I live in the south....Cold bothers me a lot, especially since I got frostbite in the service.   Wish the weather will change, and those assclowns that push the global warming crap would shut the hell up.
   I saw a statistic that 95% of the news for Trump is negative and people wonder why his approval numbers are in the 40's.

I remember the same media performing fellatio on Obama when he was in office.  The bias of the media is so strong, they have totally abandoned any pretense of impartiality and have totally embraced their reputation as "hacks".  The problem is that the people that don't pay attention have started noticing that their reality isn't matching up with the crap that the news is pushing and the media will take another hit and match lawyers in the bottom feeding department.
    And finally it is nice that we have an ambassador to the UN that tells them what we in America has been wanting to say for along time.

Personally I wish that the UN would move away....to another country....Like Haiti for example...they can try their bullcrap over there.

Military Superstitions through History.

GI's having a lucky talisman or a "rabbit's foot" is common throughout history.  When I first got to Germany I found a "Magazine Clip Guide" or follower laying around and I clipped it to my helmet and kept it there throughout my Military career.

 When I got deployed, I kept it there on my helmet when we got the "Chocochip" cover, I moved the band, gogglestrap, piece of camo-net(after flipping it over from green to brown) and my "Lucky Talisman".  It is human nature especially for a GI to believe in something that will protect him from bad things.  It sounds hokey I know but it is what it is.  When I got out I was able to keep my helmet and gear.  The Helmet right now is in my bonus room along with my other 2 GI helmets.
   

My Kevlar helmet in on the left, the middle helmet is my helmet I got when I got to Germany, I got the M1 pattern helmet and a week later I went back to CIF and got my Kevlar. and they didn't ask for the M1 pattern helmet back.  I got stuck working CIF for 30 days and I "accidentally" found a kevlar helmet that I kept and turned it in when I PCS'ed to my second duty station.  I kept this one and when I PCS'ed back to the world after Desert Storm I turned in the other helmet they had issued me.  The 3rd one on the far right is a Vietnam War era helmet that I found in a playground in Fort Benning in 1973 while my Dad was stationed there. 


Superstitions have been around since the early days of humanity, so it is not surprising that military men have often conjured up superstitious beliefs themselves. Men who are facing such high risk of death or injury often would like to tie their good luck to a talisman, and military mascots have been incredibly common in the past, with lions being used in WW2, for example.
This article takes a look at some of the military superstitions that have built up throughout the years.

Perhaps the most famous of them all, this superstition seemed to develop during the Crimean War (October 1853 – March 1856) and has been referenced in books, films and songs in Western culture for most of the 20^th century. The saying goes that it is bad luck for three soldiers to light their cigarettes from the same match and that one of the three would be killed, or the man who was third to light the cigarette on that match would be shot. An editorial in the Grand Rapid Leader in December 1919 references the superstition.

It has been alleged that the superstition was invented by a Swedish match magnate called Ivan Krueger to try and ruse people into buying more matches. However, the theory now goes that he was just taking advantage of the already prevalent belief.
The superstition was referenced in films as early as 1928 and continues to be alluded to in TV shows in the last decade such as Mad Men and Archer.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Brebières, Albert, Somme. By Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0

The nearest town to the Somme frontlines for the British troops was a little town called Albert. It was badly damaged during the war and rebuilt afterwards, and because of this there are few World War One sights to see in Albert above ground, but one feature of Albert was heavily associated with the war and became an icon at the time. The Golden Virgin on top of the Basilica is a golden statue of the Madonna holding her child up into the sky. It was visible from miles away and because of this was also the perfect target for enemy artillery.
It was damaged in January 1951, the statue was knocked but stayed leaning forward at an angle before the French secured it in that position. Due to its precarious tilt a superstition grew among the ranks that the war would end and Germany would win, when the statue fell.
The Golden Madonna spent most of the war leaning forward almost at a right angle to the ground and the belief only grew that when the statue finally fell to the ground the war would end. In 1918, when the Germans recaptured Albert during their Spring Offensive, the British realised the tower would make a great observation point for them and so deliberately bombed it, finally causing the statue to fall. Four months later, Albert was retaken by the British, and the Armistice happened a further three months after that.

The Basilica was rebuilt after the war and the Golden Madonna was replaced, where it continues to dominate the town and can be seen glinting for miles. It also serves as a tourist attraction now, allowing visitors to climb up the hundreds of stairs to stand on a small viewing deck beneath it and view the battlefields.

Charms candy in MRE packs.

A more recent superstition rising from the American Marines comes from their food packages. The ‘Meal, Ready to Eat’, known colloquially as the MRE, will often contain Charms candy, so the  soldiers can have a sweet treat after their meal. Superstition tells that if a member munches on these during patrol the weather will turn on you, especially if you eat a green one, apparently. There have even been reports of Marines throwing the candies at enemies to cast the bad luck over to them.  We Army guys believed that the Army slipped saltpeter in our food to check our libido, don't know if that was true

Edwin Parsons

American-born Edwin Parsons had a colorful military career, both in the US military and in the French Foreign Legion. He was known to have wired a stuffed black cat to the struts of his fighter aircraft as a talisman. He refused to fly without it. He even claimed after one fight that the cat took a bullet for him.
His plane was destroyed in a bombing raid and it took the lucky stuffed cat down with it. Some would wonder, at this point, whether or not the cat was actually lucky, but Parsons refused to fly until he could go back to Paris and find another one. Other aircrews often painted black cats on their planes for good luck.

The Red Baron’s plane

Baron Manfred von Richthofen became the Red Baron after January 1917 when he received the Pour le Mérite (informally called ‘The Blue Max’), the highest military honor in Germany at the time. He took command of squadron Jasta 11 which contained some of the more elite German pilots, some of whom he had trained and who would go on to lead squadrons themselves. He decided to have his plane painted red and from then on flew in red-painted aircraft, primarily to scare his enemies. The red was not always a bright scarlet, but the aircraft had to be painted some shade of red. He also refused to fly without his lucky scarf and jacket.
Soon other members of the squadron would paint parts of their planes red too, in order to make the Red Baron seem less conspicuous and so he wouldn’t be singled out in battle, but the red became their unit identification and Richthofen became Der Rote Kampfflieger (the Red Fighter Pilot).
He was killed during combat in 1918 and buried with full military honors by the Allies.

Russia Probe Grand Jury looks like a "Black Lives Matter Rally"

I saw this surfing on "Drudge" and read the article.  I always had doubts of the impartiality of the Grand Jury.  Especially if the Jury Pool was from the DC area.  An area especially hostile to President Trump.

The federal grand jury handing down indictments for special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t appear to include any supporters of President Donald Trump, according to one witness who recently testified before the panel.

“The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,” my source said. “Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley [Calif.]”
Of the 20 jurors, 11 are African-Americans and two were wearing “peace T-shirts,” the witness said. “There was only one white male in the room, and he was a prosecutor.” Mueller was not present.
The Washington, DC, grand jury, which meets only on Fridays, handed down its first indictments in October, charging Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and his partner Rick Gates with money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents. The two are pleading not guilty.
Mueller’s team is expected to bring more charges against Manafort relating to his work on behalf of the Ukrainian government in the years before Trump became a candidate.
Sol Wachtler, the former chief judge in New York, once called for abolishing grand juries because they are so easily manipulated that they would “indict a ham sandwich.”
My source said, “That room isn’t a room where POTUS gets a fair shake.”

Some escapes from East Berlin During the Cold War

I have Blogged about Berlin a lot since I started blogging back in 2011.  I have a connection to that city as I have for Stuttgart.  I remember walking around the city from the West Berlin part to the East Berlin part and how different they were, the vibrant West and the Dour East. 

When the Second World War was finally over, Germany was divided up into four occupation zones among the Allied forces. Berlin was also divided up into four sectors between the USA, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union. Tensions between the Soviets and America, the UK, and France grew strong over the following two years which culminated in the latter three uniting the non-Soviet controlled zones of the city into one to promote reconstruction in post-war Berlin, during this time in the 1950’s there was mass emigration from the Eastern Bloc across to the occupied Allied zones, and 3.5million East Germans managed to defect from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) before the wall was built.
The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 with the purpose of preventing any emigration and defection from East Germany to West Germany and in it’s lifetime saw approximately 5,000 people attempt escapes over, or under it. The death toll ranges from 136 to more than 200 people in and around Berlin. Some of these escape attempts were incredibly creative.

During the nights of October 3^rd and 4^th, 1964, the largest mass escape of East Berlin was conducted with 57 people managing to escape through a tunnel underneath an apartment block in Strelitzer Straße. The tunnel itself was two feet high and three feet wide, and the people making the leap could not bring any baggage or belongings with them, only their papers. They came out on Bernauer Straße, underneath a disused bakery in West Berlin.

The plaque marking Tunnel 57 in Berlin. By N-Lange.de – CC BY-SA 3.0

On the second night two men came with a group of border guards and gunfire broke out, one of the East German border guards, Egon Schultz, was killed after an escape helper, Christian Zobel, opened fire and shot him. He was then hit by friendly fire from another guard and fatally wounded.
There is a memorial plaque on the site to commemorate the escape and the death of Schultz.

A trapeze artist living in East Berlin had been banned from performing due to his beliefs being anti-communist, so went over the wall on a tightrope to escape to West Berlin. Horst Klein said he ‘couldn’t live any longer without the smell of the circus’ to newspapers in the city at the time and in December 1962 he made his brave escape over the wall.
Klein climbed an electricity pole near the Wall and went across the cable, over the infamous Death Strip in between the two walls dividing Berlin using his hands. When his arms became too tired he then inched his way across the disused power cable and then fell from the cable into West Berlin. He broke both of his arms as a result, but was free to perform again.

The Berlin Wall today, covered in graffiti. By Tony Webster – CC BY 2.0

Two brothers, Ingo and Holger, in West Germany were determined to rescue their third brother, Egbert, who was stuck in East Berlin. Ingo had escaped East Berlin in 1974 and Holger in 1983, Ingo fled through fences and minefields before floating across the Elbe river on an air matters and Holger used a zip line he created to get to West Berlin.

Their rescue mission went so far as learning how to fly planes, and then painted two ultralight planes in a Soviet style with red stars.
The daring attempt took place in May 1989, when they disguised themselves in military uniforms and flew the planes into East Berlin where they picked up their brother and brought him back. The three brothers were reunited for the first time in a decade.

The Berlin Wall death strip and a guard tower. By GeorgeLouis – CC BY-SA 3.0

Two families made a fearless attempt to escape via hot air balloon. Hans Peter Stelczyk, an aircraft mechanic, got the idea from an East German TV show on the history of ballooning and made a hot air balloon with his friend Gunter Wetzel, a bricklayer. Together they built the engine from cooking propane cylinders and an iron platform with posts for corners and handholds, and rope anchors while their wives sewed together canvas and bedsheets to make a 72-foot diameter patchwork hot air balloon of sorts.
While their first attempt failed this did not deter the families, and on September 16^th, 1979, they flew across the wall, over minefields and guard towers and crash-landed in West Germany, in a blackberry bush. The total flight time was thirty minutes and families in the town they landed in were quick to offer food and clothing to the escapees.

At 19, Richter swam for four hours across the Teltow Canal in 1966 to reach West Berlin. He said of his ordeal that he was attacked by a swan, there were times where he had to dive underwater to evade the guards and by the time he arrived he ‘had hypothermia and was exhausted’, and then passed out on the shore.
Once he was in West Germany he moved to Hamburg, and in 1971 was released from his East German citizenship. This allowed him to travel to East Germany as a West German resident without any legal consequences, and he saw an opportunity to help those who were still in need.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. By Unknown photographer, Reproduction by Lear 21 – CC BY-SA 3.0.

Richter then came to the aid of others who desperately wanted to get out by returning to East Germany and smuggling out friends in the trunk of his car. He helped more than 30 people escape this way before being caught in March 1976 when border police inspected his car and found his own sister and her boyfriend in the trunk. All three were arrested and Richter was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
West Germany bought his freedom four years later and he was released on October 2^nd, 1980.
Other escape attempts happened through Hungary and Yugoslavia, or across the Baltic Sea. By the time the Berlin Wall fell, to much celebration, in November 1989 almost 200 people had died around the wall, or along the death strip in Berlin.

Monday Music "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave

What can I say, I do like Disco, it was an influence in my musical taste.  This song came on while I was driving home after work and I had it on the 70's channel on my Sirius/XM.  I started jamming to the song while driving home.  I decided to use it on my next Monday Music.

"Boogie Nights" is a 1977 single by international funk-disco group Heatwave. It was the group's debut single and was written by keyboardist Rod Temperton. It was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle. American actor and singer Clarke Peters performed backing vocals on the recording.

The song became one of the best-known disco songs by a British group and charted at #2 in both the UK Singles Chart as well as the Billboard Hot 100. It also appeared on US Billboard R&B and dance charts during 1977. The song would reach number 1 in New Zealand. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The song has been covered many times by artists such as KC and the Sunshine Band, Will to Power, 911 and The Weather Girls. British boy-band Blue also performed the song in their live shows.
The song made an appearance in the films Eyes of Laura Mars, Summer of Sam and The Stud, though it was not featured in the 1997 film Boogie Nights