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Good Sunday morning August 2, 2026 .We are clear and heating up again this morning to 91 by 2 and dropping to 77 by 8. Some things old and some things new and a few others this morning.
I hope that you all are having a great weekend.
Regards,
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director’s corner for all 100 H-Grams
This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History
August 2
1865 CSS Shenandoah, commanded by James I. Waddell, encounters the British merchant bark, Barracouta, in the Pacific Ocean and receives the first firm report the Civil War ended in April with the defeat of the Confederacy. Shenandoah rounds Cape Horn in mid-September and arrives at Liverpool in early November, becoming the only Confederate Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe. There she hauls down the Confederate ensign and turns over to the Royal Navy.
1943 (PT 109), commanded by Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy, is rammed by the Japanese destroyer, Amagiri, which cuts through the vessel at Blackett Strait near Kolombangara Island. Abandoning ship, Kennedy leads his men to swim to an island some miles away. With the aid of a Coastwatcher and local residents, they return to Rendova PT base on Aug. 8.
1944 While in action with the German submarine (U 804), USS Fiske (DE 143) is torpedoed mid-ship, breaks in two and sinks. Thirty of her crew members are lost with her.
1964 USS Maddox (DD 731) engages three North Vietnamese motor torpedo boats. In the resulting torpedo and gunfire, Maddox hit all the boats, while she was struck only by a single 14.5-millimeter machine gun bullet. Air support arrives from USS Ticonderoga (CVA 14) and her planes strafe the three boats. Both sides then disengage.
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Today in World History August 2
216 BC Hannibal Barca wins his greatest victory over the Romans at Cannae. After avidly studying the tactics of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus eventually bested his Carthaginian adversary.
47 BC Caesar defeats Pharnaces at Zela in Syria and declares, "veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered).
1552 The treaty of Passau gives religious freedom to Protestants living in Germany.
1553 An invading French army is destroyed at the Battle of Marciano in Italy by an imperial army.
1589 During France's religious war, a fanatical monk stabs King Henry II to death.
1776 The Continental Congress, having decided unanimously to make the Declaration of Independence, affixes the signatures of the other delegates to the document.
1790 The first US census begins enumerating the population.
1802 Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed "Consul for Life" by the French Senate after a plebiscite from the French people.
1819 The first parachute jump from a balloon is made by Charles Guille in New York City.
1832 Troops under General Henry Atkinson massacre Sauk Indian men, women and children who are followers of Black Hawk at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin. Black Hawk himself finally surrenders three weeks later, bringing the Black Hawk War to an end.
1847 William A. Leidesdorff launches the first steam boat in San Francisco Bay.
1862 Union General John Pope captures Orange Court House, Virginia.
1862 The Army Ambulance Corps is established by Maj. Gen. George McClellan.
1876 Wild Bill Hickok is shot while playing poker.
1914 Germany invades Luxembourg.
1918 A British force lands in Archangel, Russia, to support White Russian opposition to the Bolsheviks.
1923 Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of Warren G. Harding.
1934 German President Paul von Hindenburg dies and Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor.
1943 Lt. John F. Kennedy, towing an injured sailor, swims to a small island in the Solomon Islands. The night before, his boat, PT-109, had been split in half by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri.
1950 The U.S. First Provisional Marine Brigade arrives in Korea from the United States.
1964 U.S. destroyer Maddox is reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats.
1965 Newsman Morley Safer films the destruction of a Vietnamese village by U.S. Marines.
1990 Iraqi forces invade neighboring Kuwait.
1997 Author William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), considered the godfather of the "Beat Generation" in American literature, dies at age 83.
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Some bits thanks to Brett
This Mayor Was Born in Uganda and Wants American Taxpayers to Pay Slavery Reparations
New York City is already broke and cutting services.
Now its socialist mayor wants to write reparations checks – and send the bill to you.
Zohran Mamdani just told a left-wing outlet...
[Read More...]
________________________________________
Chicago Handed $13 Million to a Fraud and Now Blames Donald Trump for the Grocery Stores That Closed
James Carville Once Called David Hogg a Contemptible Twerp and Now Wants Him Running the DNC
Kathy Hochul Watched Tom Homan Destroy Tim Walz in Minneapolis and Signed the Sanctuary Bill Anyway
Barack Obama Called Donald Trump a Pathological Liar While Secretly Running Cover for Anthony Fauci
The WNBA Just Became the Only Pro League in America to Spit on the USA 250 Patch
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Some bits from 1440
. Good morning! It's Sunday, Aug. 2, and welcome to our Sunday Edition. Today, we're learning about what many would consider one of the less fun aspects of summer: mosquitoes. Keep reading to discover the 25 new UNESCO World Heritage Sites (News in Context), the history of US immigration (Civics), and much more.
Itchy Little Fly
Tiny but lethal, mosquitoes are the world's deadliest animal, killing about 760,000 people annually. Though there are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes and only a very small fraction of them bite humans, the diseases that skeeters carry can be very deadly. Malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, and more sicken and kill humans and other animals, too. Only females bite humans, and they suck our blood because they need blood proteins to sustain their eggs.
> Mosquitoes top the ranking of the world's deadliest animals.
> The mosquito's role in the transmission of malaria was confirmed in 1897.
The bugs have been spotted on every continent but Antarctica. Their range is expanding with climate change, and mosquitoes were most recently documented in 2025 in Iceland, the last mosquito-free country until that point. Even as mosquitoes spread to new locales and the bugs develop resistance to insecticides, scientific advances are creating new mosquito control options.
> Genetic analysis suggests Anopheles mosquitoes fed on humans some 1.8 million years ago.
> Anopheles mosquitoes are developing resistance to insecticides.
> Iceland, the last mosquito-free country, detected them in 2025.
Gene-editing technology could now theoretically render female mosquitoes infertile to wipe out disease-carrying species, though concerns remain about effectively limiting this engineered trait to the target species. Infecting mosquitoes with the Wolbachia bacterium is another option under consideration, since the naturally occurring microbe blocks transmission of various diseases.
> See how gene-editing technology could theoretically make female mosquitoes infertile.
> The insect drinks a maximum of 0.01 milliliters of blood in a single meal.
Discover more:
> Using mosquitoes to vaccinate bats could curb the spread of deadly diseases.
> Mosquitoes even have olfactory receptors on their sperm.
> Some mosquitoes are key pollinators—and eat disease-carrying mosquitoes.
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By combining the power of your health data and clinical expertise, Verily Me offers healthcare that’s yours, truly. Download Verily Me for free now.
1440 brings you the knowledge and context behind the week's stories:
The Federal Reserve declined to change interest rates at its meeting Wednesday, leaving rates in the 3.50%-3.75% range.
No institution wields more power in US finance than the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the US.
> Interest rates have historically been an indicator of the US economy's overall health.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Southwestern Japan Tuesday, killing at least 18 people.
> Tectonic earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates sliding past one another at fault zones, deforming rock through friction.
> The earliest earthquake-detection device—the seismoscope—was invented in China in 132 CE and featured eight ball-wielding dragons facing different directions.
1440 Civics
The question of who can enter the United States has dominated American politics for more than a century. As of June 2025, nearly 52 million immigrants lived in the United States, representing 15.4% of the total population.
Before 1965, US immigration law relied on nationality-based bans and quotas.
Monaco has the world's oldest population.
How common food items are traded around the globe.
Explore an interactive map of strangers' memories around the world.
The International Space Station produces oxygen from recycled water.
An 1844 chess match via telegraph anticipated the board game's online popularity.
🫶 Humankind: Biologist spearheads project to build rope bridges for wildlife in the Amazon, leading to 15,000 safe wildlife crossings and zero roadkill.
"Toy Story" was initially pushed to be an edgy comedy that could appeal to adults.
Spotting a liar may be easier when listening rather than looking.
Discover an animation illustrating the roughly 40 weeks of fetal development.
This lake in the Faroe Islands appears to “float” above the ocean.
"Loud budgeting" involves telling your friends what you can't afford.
Your gut microbiome is composed of six main types of bacteria.
Historybook: Declaration of Independence is signed (1776); American actress Myrna Loy born (1905); Alexander Graham Bell dies (1922); Author and activist James Baldwin born (1924); Iraq invades Kuwait, leading to Gulf War (1990).
"The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love—whether we call it friendship or family or romance—is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other's light."
—James Baldwin
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Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for ..August 2.
Hello All,
Thanks to Dan Heller and the Bear
Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.
An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).
If you have any questions or comments about RTR/TFO, or have a question on my book, you may e-mail me directly at acrossthewing@protonmail.com. Thank you Dan
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear’s Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady’s work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend . The site works, find anyone you knew in “search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
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Just received a note from Russ who sent the above list to a friend Just thought I would share this from a helo pilot that made it home. He was a good friend of my cousin in North Dakota. As luck would have it, he also was an instructor of mine in the T-28.
Russ,
Thanks for sending this. Was in Kenmare for the last week and waited to get home to reminisce on this type of information.
Yes, I did know a good number of these Marines who paid the ultimate price.
Many memories of them in flight training, Vietnam prep and then fellow squadron members. One of the names, Jerome J Schlicht from Melrose MN, was a roommate and team mate on the Bison football team.
Definitely miss and think of him. One the names, ED Connelley, was in my OCS class and together through flight school. I had just been in a hot zone and picked up a couple of Marines and was shot up so bad we had to shut down at the medevac
dropoff. He went in to a zone 2 clicks west of my pickup spot. On liftoff
the AC was shot down and all were KIA. Just a few examples.
You have to get hard over there. To much emotion is not good for survival.
And you have an additional 3 in crew to think of. They depend on your skills and decision making. I had a few crew wounded but no loss of life.
Fear is another that has to be controlled if one is to make good decisions and flight maneuvers. I believe good training, accumulated experience and mission focus allowed me to overcome fears or hesitations that I may have had. Amazing things we did.
Flying, communicating with ground forces, communicating with crew, communicating with on site airborne gun ships, orienting ourselves to the hostile positions, determining wind direction, determining the suitable approach, balancing all of these balls while listening to the m60's blazing
and the crew hollering about we are taking hits. Getting in the LZ and
picking up or delivering and then departing through that same mayhem!
Many times over the years I have looked back and thought: "How the hell did I simultaneously perform all of those tasks!"
That is my story and I am sticking to it.
Thanks Russ!
Carl Bergman
Subject: Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War
Hey Carl:
I cogitated about sending this to you but then I thought I probably would appreciate this. You more than likely knew a few of these brothers in the bond. God bless them and their families.
V/R
Russ
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. Thanks to American Facts
Ten Ways The First Family Changed The White House
Since the year 1800, the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has served as the President’s official residence. In the more than 200 years since, the presidential mansion has seen it all, from being set on fire by British forces to planes crashing on its lawn. Each administration has left a mark on the White House, with many presidents and first ladies expanding and renovating it, creating new traditions and customs. Let’s dive into 10 ways First Families changed the presidential residence.
New Year Reception (James and Abigail Adams)
John Adams was the first U.S. president to live in the White House — then referred to as the President’s Palace or the Presidential Mansion — alongside his wife, Abigail, who played a significant role in furnishing the newly built residence.
On New Year’s Day, 1801, the Adams held a public reception for anyone who wanted to shake the hand of the President and his wife. This tradition continued (with some interruptions) until the year 1932 when it was shut down by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who (allegedly) wanted to avoid being seen using a wheelchair.
Indoor Toilets (Thomas Jefferson)
When Thomas Jefferson assumed the presidency, he found out that the White House lacked a toilet and only had an outdoor wooden privy. He instructed the construction of two water closets, one on each side of the residence.
During Jefferson’s tenure as president, the White House saw the modernization of the lighting system, the kitchen, and some exterior elements such as the gutters. Jefferson also ordered the construction of an outside wine cellar.
White House China (James Monroe)
Did you know the White House has a special room to house the porcelain sets designed for each administration? The tradition of commissioning presidential china designs started in 1817, with President James Monroe.
The Monroe china was designed and created in Paris, depicting an eagle carrying a red, white, and blue banner that read "E Pluribus Unum." Following criticism of the presidential mansion's purchase of foreign goods, Congress determined that all presidential china should be manufactured in the United States, although some presidential couples still chose to commission French china.
The Library (Abigail Filmore)
When Millard and Abigail Fillmore moved into the White House, their interests in decoration and improvements differed from those of past First Families. None of them came from a wealthy background, so they prioritized expanding the heating system and modernizing the kitchen.
More interested in intellectual pursuits than in socializing, Abigail noticed that the Presidential Mansion lacked a library and set out to create one. She personally organized the room, selected the books, and arranged them to her liking. The library became her main parlor, where she received literary figures of the time and listened to music.
Floral Arrangements (Lucy Webb Hayes)
A passionate abolitionist and the first First Lady to earn a college degree, Lucy Webb Hayes moved into the White House at the end of the Reconstruction era, and after a highly controversial election. With scarce money to renovate the Presidential mansion, Mrs. Hayes found ingenious ways to conceal holes in the carpets and worn-down furniture.
Lucy Webb Hayes was the first president’s wife to be referred to as ‘First Lady’. She made several changes and improvements in the White House, but she is most remembered for turning the billiard room into a greenhouse with abundant flowers, which she then used for floral arrangements for the residence.
The West Wing (Theodore Roosevelt)
We all know that the West Wing is where the presidential office is located, but not everyone knows that it was not part of the original design of the White House. Before 1902, the president’s offices were located on the second floor.
When Theodore Roosevelt moved into the White House, he found out that there wasn’t enough space for his six children and all the staff. His wife Edith suggested that the second floor should be part of the living quarters and that the offices should be separated. The West Wing was built as a temporary structure on what once were the stables, but in the end, it became a permanent fixture of the residence.
The Oval Office (William Taft)
This office is known as the place where all big decisions are made, but it wasn’t in the original plans. When President William Taft decided to make the temporary West Wing permanent, he also doubled its size and created the Presidential Oval Office.
Its shape was inspired by the semicircular room in the main residence, intended for the president to receive guests. This room was an ode to the bow windows from where George Washington greeted the people in Philadelphia.
Interior Reconstruction (Harry S. Truman)
By 1949, the White House had seen a century and a half of wars, fires, political scandals, and innovations. With nearly no renovations made to it during the Great Depression and World War II, President Truman and his family moved into a house that was nearing collapse and was eventually declared unsafe when the leg of a piano crashed through the dining room ceiling.
The Trumans moved across the street during the three years the reconstruction took place. Due to the need for extensive renovations, a total demolition of the building was considered but not enacted. In the end, the decision was to preserve the exterior walls and completely rebuild and expand the interior.
Themed Christmases (Jackie Kennedy)
The White House’s themed Christmases are a renowned tradition, complete with a spectacular tree and decorations. This lovely tradition was started in 1961 by Jackie Kennedy, who then chose ‘The Nutcracker’ as a theme, and featured decorations made by disabled and senior citizens.
Since then, First Families have carried on the themed Christmas tradition, honoring topics and interests relevant to the nation and highlighting causes dear to the presidential family.
Office of the First Lady (Rosalynn Carter)
First Ladies have always played an important role in supporting the president, running the Presidential Mansion, and aiding several causes. However, this role wasn’t always officially recognized or contemplated in the White House budget.
Although some first ladies before her had officially hired staff, Rosalynn Carter was the first to organize hers into a proper office with several departments, with staff dedicated to press, social causes, campaigns, and community liaisons.
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
. THANKS TO INTERESTING FACTS
6 Absorbing Facts About August
In the Northern Hemisphere, the month of August means fun in the sun — the last hurrah of summer before “back to school” rolls around and the rush toward Halloween and the winter holidays picks up steam. There are a lot of interesting tidbits about August, so grab some sunscreen and a Popsicle while we share six of them in honor of our (now) eighth month.
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August Wasn’t Always This Way
August is a month that knows its way around a calendar. Not only was it not initially the eighth month, but it also didn’t always have 31 days. The Roman calendar borrowed heavily from complicated Greek lunar calendars when it first began; the Roman year originally had 10 months containing 304 days total, with the new year commencing on the first of Martius, the month we now call “March.” Sextilis (which eventually became August), originally the sixth month, had 29 days. Subsequent reforms added two additional months, bumping some month names to spots that no longer agreed with their new position in the calendar. (For example, “September” means “the seventh month,” but it is now the name of the ninth.)
Some of these inconsistencies remain. Julius Caesar (namesake of the month July) instituted further calendar reforms, eliminating leap months and declaring that most years contain 365 days (except for leap years). When the Julian calendar was introduced in 45 BCE, Sextilis got 31 days. Rome’s first emperor, Julius’ great-nephew Augustus Caesar, renamed Sextilis “August” — by then the eight month — in honor of himself in 8 BCE.
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August Begins With Lammas
“After Lammas Day, corn ripens as much by night as by day,” or so goes the saying. In the British Isles and northern Europe, August is a month for bringing in the harvest of summer. The first of August is the holiday of Lammas, a Cross-Quarter Day that marks the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. The Celts celebrated Lammas as Lughnasadh, while the early Christians transitioned the pagan rites into a “loaf mass,” where villagers took loaves baked with grains from the first harvest to be blessed.
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August Is Filled With Stars
The so-called “dog days of summer” aren’t named that because of hot dogs, but because between July 3 and August 11, the sun rises and sets with Sirius. The brightest star visible from Earth, Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major (“Greater Dog”) and is often referred to as “the Dog Star.” (August 26, however, is National Dog Day … so every dog does have its day in August.) Sirius was worshipped as the goddess Sopdet in ancient Egypt, as its position in the night sky predicted the flooding of the Nile River.
Sirius isn’t the only star show happening in the August sky — the Perseids meteor shower is at its peak, and the Kappa Cygnids also make an appearance.
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August Is Filled With Famous Days
August is an eventful month, packed with anniversaries both celebratory and sad. The Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus and a crew of 90 men set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, arriving in North America in October of the same year. The world gasped on August 22, 1911, the morning after Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece the “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre. (It was recovered two years later.) On August 6 and August 9, 1945, U.S. forces detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the only use of nuclear weapons in war. And in 1963, more than a quarter of a million people gathered in Washington, D.C., to hear Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. give his “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28.
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August Is a Big Month for Volcanoes
Although modern research may change the date, history has long recounted that the apocalyptic eruption of southern Italy’s Mount Vesuvius (near present-day Naples) occurred on August 24, 79 CE. The volcano’s fury killed between 13,000 and 16,000 people, completely destroying the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Much better documented is the August 26, 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. Although the island of Krakatoa was uninhabited, the resulting fallout and tsunamis caused the deaths of around 36,000 people, making it one of the deadliest volcanic events in recorded history. In August 2022, Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted near Reykjavik. And olive-green peridot, one of August’s birthstones, is forged in the fires of volcanoes.
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European Cities Put Out the “Gone Fishin’” Signs in August
Europeans enjoy a generous amount of vacation time, and August is a favored time for residents of major cities to escape overheated streets — and the tourists who crowd them. August also coincides with school holidays, so locals go on vacation (preferably to the shore or cooler mountains) right along with foreign visitors. While some services will remain open to cater to tourists, many of the best restaurants and shops will simply shut their doors so staff can go off on their own happy holidays.
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. Thanks to History Facts
The fall of the Berlin Wall was partly due to a bureaucratic mistake.
The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years, separating East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Had it not been for a bureaucratic mistake, it might have stood a little longer. Facing mounting pressure, East Germany announced on November 9, 1989, that its citizens could begin visiting the West, though the policy wasn’t meant to take immediate effect. Instead, it was supposed to be rolled out gradually and involve a visa application. However, that’s not what an unprepared politburo member named Günter Schabowski said when asked at a press conference that evening about the timeline for East Germans to begin their visits — his answer was “immediately, without delay.”
Excited by the news, thousands of East Germans descended on the wall to both celebrate and make the crossing they’d been waiting so long for. This was especially overwhelming to Harald Jäger, a guard at the Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint. Receiving little in the way of helpful guidance from his superiors and faced with a growing crowd — to say nothing of the fact that he was waiting on results of a cancer test — he opened the gate. Other checkpoint guards did likewise, and this vital part of the Iron Curtain was finally torn down.
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From the Archives
. Thanks to Newel for his light hearted contribution to today’s list. Posting in THE LIST includes the humorous as well as cogent historical items and sociopolitical commentary. With that enjoyable feature in mind, here’s a contribution Just For Grins.
The Cynical Philosopher
Just read that 4,153,237 people got married last year. Not to cause any trouble but shouldn't that be an even number?
Today a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool. I gave him a glass of water.
If I had a dollar for every girl that found me unattractive, they would eventually find me attractive.
I find it ironic that the colors red, white, and blue stand for freedom until they are flashing behind you.
When wearing a bikini, women reveal 90% of their body. Men are so polite they only look at the covered parts.
A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight, live longer than the men who mention it.
Relationships are a lot like algebra. Have you ever looked at your X and wondered Y?
America is a country which produces citizens who will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote.
Did you know that dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish?
My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We'll see about that.
I think my neighbor is stalking me as she's been Googling my name on her computer. I saw it through my telescope last night.
Money talks ... but all mine ever says is good-bye.
You're not fat. You're just easier to see.
If you think nobody cares whether you're alive, try missing a couple of payments.
I always wondered what the job application is like at Hooters. Do they just give you a bra and say, “Here, fill this out?”
I can’t understand why women are okay that J C Penny has an older women's clothing line named, “Sag Harbor.”
My therapist said that my narcissism causes me to misread social situations. I’m pretty sure she was hitting on me.
My 60-year kindergarten reunion is coming up soon, and I’m worried about the 175 pounds I’ve gained since then.
The pharmacist asked me my birth date again today. I'm pretty sure she's going to get me something.
The location of your mailbox shows you how far away from your house you can be in a robe before you start looking like a mental patient.
I think it's pretty cool how Chinese people made a language entirely out of tattoos.
Money can't buy happiness, but it keeps the kids in touch!
The reason Mayberry was so peaceful and quiet was because nobody was married. Andy, Aunt Bea, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Goober, Gomer, Sam, Earnest T. Bass, Helen, Thelma Lou, Clara and, of course, Opie were all single. The only married person was Otis, and he stayed drunk
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. Thanks To Interesting Facts
Killer whales are actually dolphins.
There are a few common misconceptions about killer whales, such as how they’re often seen as bloodthirsty creatures that hunt humans. (They don’t — killer whale attacks are incredibly rare.) But the biggest confusion about these black-and-white ocean dwellers is right in their name: They aren’t really whales. The Orcinus orca is actually the largest species in the Delphinidae (aka dolphin) family, weighing as much as 350 pounds at birth and growing up to 32 feet long during its 30- to 50-year lifespan. But in comparison to most whales — like the 100-foot blue whale, the largest animal on our planet — orcas are relatively small. Biologists also group killer whales with dolphins because of their aerodynamic body shape, which helps them reach speeds of up to 34 miles per hour, and their use of echolocation for hunting and navigation.
So why do we call them killer “whales”? The name stems from sailors of old, who witnessed the massive dolphins hunting whales (and other large marine mammals) together, and originally called them “whale killers.” Over time, the name was reordered, giving orcas a reputation as fierce and dangerous predators. These oceanic dolphins are clever hunters, known for beaching themselves to feast on seals and sea birds, and for working in pods to take down larger prey like great white sharks. But they’re also extremely social marine animals that spend their lives in matriarchal groups with as many as 40 members. Killer whales are so focused on community building that pods often host “greeting ceremonies” to meet members of other groups or welcome new babies, and hold aquatic funerals to mourn podmates. And the most reputation-busting research shows they might just like belly rubs.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Largest recorded weight (in pounds) of a killer whale
22,000
Number of known dolphin and porpoise species
49
Estimated number of wild orcas, as of 2021
50,000
Total worldwide movie ticket sales for 1993’s “Free Willy”
$153.7 million
The U.S. military trains dolphins for special underwater missions.
Dolphins are known for their intelligence and use of echolocation, which is why the U.S. military has been training them as underwater operatives since 1959. Naval scientists first began researching bottlenose dolphins and how they swim in part to create better torpedoes, but quickly expanded to training, sending the first skilled dolphins to guard ships and perform surveillance in Vietnamese waters in 1965. By the early 1990s, the dolphin program — initially kept secret — was so successful that the U.S. Navy relied on more than 100 of the animals to transport tools to underwater crews and patrol naval bases in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. The Navy’s Marine Mammal Program was officially declassified in 1992, but dolphins are still important military members. Their use of sonar (echolocation) makes them especially adept at mine-clearing tasks, in which they’re trained to distinguish (from a safe distance) between naturally occurring ocean features and human-made items that could be bombs, and then tag the locations for human divers to examine.
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From the archives and worth your read A close run episode
Thanks to Mugs
I took out all the pictures
You (and almost everyone you know) owe your life to this man
ByRobert Krulwich
Published March 24, 2016
Temperament matters.
Especially when nuclear weapons are involved and you don’t—you can’t—know what the enemy is up to, and you’re scared. Then it helps (it helps a lot) to be calm.
The world owes an enormous debt to a quiet, steady Russian naval officer who probably saved my life. And yours. And everyone you know. Even those of you who weren’t yet born. I want to tell his story...
It’s October 1962, the height of the Cuban missile crisis, and there’s a Soviet submarine in the Caribbean that’s been spotted by the American Navy. President Kennedy has blockaded Cuba. No sea traffic is permitted through.
The sub is hiding in the ocean, and the Americans are dropping depth charges left and right of the hull. Inside, the sub is rocking, shaking with each new explosion. What the Americans don’t know is that this sub has a tactical nuclear torpedo on board, available to launch, and that the Russian captain is asking himself, Shall I fire?
This actually happened.
The Russian in question, an exhausted, nervous submarine commander named Valentin Savitsky, decided to do it. He ordered the nuclear-tipped missile readied. His second in command approved the order. Moscow hadn’t communicated with its sub for days. Eleven U.S. Navy ships were nearby, all possible targets. The nuke on this missile had roughly the power of the bomb at Hiroshima.
'We’re gonna blast them now!'
Temperatures in the submarine had climbed above 100 degrees. The air-conditioning system was broken, and the ship couldn’t surface without being exposed. The captain felt doomed. Vadim Orlov, an intelligence officer who was there, remembers a particularly loud blast: “The Americans hit us with something stronger than the grenades—apparently with a practice depth bomb,” he wrote later. “We thought, That’s it, the end.” And that’s when, he says, the Soviet captain shouted, “Maybe the war has already started up there … We’re gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all—we will not become the shame of the fleet.”
Had Savitsky launched his torpedo, had he vaporized a U.S. destroyer or aircraft carrier, the U.S. would probably have responded with nuclear-depth charges, “thus,” wrote Russian archivist Svetlana Savranskaya, understating wildly, “starting a chain of inadvertent developments, which could have led to catastrophic consequences.”
But it didn’t happen, because that’s when Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov steps into the story.
Soviet submarine captain Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov
He was 34 at the time. Good looking, with a full head of hair and something like a spit curl dangling over his forehead. He was Savitsky’s equal, the flotilla commander responsible for three Russian subs on this secret mission to Cuba—and he is maybe one of the quietest, most unsung heroes of modern times.
What he said to Savitsky we will never know, not exactly. But, says Thomas Blanton, the former director of the nongovernmental National Security Archive, simply put, this “guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world.”
Arkhipov, described by his wife as a modest, soft-spoken man, simply talked Savitsky down.
The exact details are controversial. The way it’s usually told is that each of the three Soviet submarine captains in the ocean around Cuba had the power to launch a nuclear torpedo if—and only if—he had the consent of all three senior officers on board. On his sub, Savitsky gave the order and got one supporting vote, but Arkhipov balked. He wouldn’t go along.
He argued that this was not an attack.
The official Soviet debriefs are still secret, but a Russian reporter, Alexander Mozgovoi, an American writer, and eyewitness testimony from intelligence officer Orlov suggest that Arkhipov told the captain that the ship was not in danger. It was being asked to surface. Dropping depth charges left then right, noisy but always off target—those are signals, Arkhipov argued. They say, We know you’re there. Identify yourselves. Come up and talk. We intend no harm.
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What’s happening?
The Russian crew couldn’t tell what was going on above them: They’d gone silent well before the crisis began. Their original orders were to go directly to Cuba, but then, without explanation, they’d been ordered to stop and wait in the Caribbean. Orlov, who had lived in America, heard from American radio stations that Russia had secretly brought missiles to the island, that Cuba had shot down a U.S. spy plane, that President Kennedy had ordered the U.S. Navy to surround the island and let no one pass through. When Americans had spotted the sub, Savitsky had ordered it to drop deeper into the ocean, to get out of sight—but that had cut them off. They couldn’t hear (and didn’t trust) U.S. media. For all they knew, the war had already begun.
We don’t know how long they argued. We do know that the nuclear weapons the Russians carried (each ship had just one, with a special guard who stayed with it, day and night) were to be used only if Russia itself had been attacked. Or if attack was imminent. Savitsky felt he had the right to fire first. Official Russian accounts insist he needed a direct order from Moscow, but Archipov’s wife Olga says there was a confrontation.
She and Ryurik Ketov, the gold-toothed captain of a nearby Russian sub, both heard the story directly from Vasili. Both believe him and say so in this PBS documentary. Some scenes are dramatized, but listen to what they say...
As the drama unfolded, Kennedy worried that the Russians would mistake depth charges for an attack. When his defense secretary said the U.S. was dropping “grenade”-size signals over the subs, the president winced. His brother Robert Kennedy later said that talk of depth charges “were the time of greatest worry to the President. His hand went up to his face [and] he closed his fist.”
Video still from the PBS documentary, “ Missile Crisis: The Man Who Saved the World.”
The Russian command, for its part, had no idea how tough it was inside those subs. Anatoly Andreev, a crew member on a different, nearby sub, kept a journal, a continuing letter to his wife, that described what it was like:
For the last four days, they didn’t even let us come up to the periscope depth… My head is bursting from the stuffy air… Today three sailors fainted from overheating again… The regeneration of air works poorly, the carbon dioxide content [is] rising, and the electric power reserves are dropping. Those who are free from their shifts, are sitting immobile, staring at one spot… Temperature in the sections is above 50 [122ºF].
The debate between the captain and Arkhipov took place in an old, diesel-powered submarine designed for Arctic travel but stuck in a climate that was close to unendurable. And yet, Arkhipov kept his cool. After their confrontation, the missile was not readied for firing. Instead, the Russian sub rose to the surface, where it was met by a U.S. destroyer. The Americans didn’t board. There were no inspections, so the U.S. Navy had no idea that there were nuclear torpedos on those subs—and wouldn’t know for around 50 years, when the former belligerents met at a 50th reunion. Instead, the Russians turned away from Cuba and headed north, back to Russia.
Looking back, it all came down to Arkhipov. Everyone agrees that he’s the guy who stopped the captain. He’s the one who stood in the way.
He was, as best as we can tell, not punished by the Soviets. He was later promoted. Reporter Alexander Mozgovoi describes how the Soviet Navy conducted a formal review and how the man in charge, Marshal Grachko, when told about conditions on those ships, “removed his glasses and hit them against the table in fury, breaking them into small pieces, and abruptly leaving the room after that.”
How Arkhipov managed to keep his temper in all that heat, how he managed to persuade his frantic colleague, we can’t say, but it helps to know that Arkhipov was already a Soviet hero. A year earlier he’d been on another Soviet sub, the K-19, when the coolant system failed and the onboard nuclear reactor was in danger of meltdown. With no backup system, the captain ordered the crew to jerry-rig a repair, and Arkhipov, among others, got exposed to high levels of radiation. Twenty-two crew members died from radiation sickness over the next two years. Arkhipov wouldn’t die until 1998, but it would be from kidney cancer, brought on, it’s said, by exposure.
Nuclear weapons are inherently dangerous. Handling them, using them, not using them, requires caution, care. Living as we do now with North Korea, Pakistani generals, jihadists, and who knows who’ll be the next U.S. president, the world is very, very lucky that at one critical moment, someone calm enough, careful enough, and cool enough was there to say no.
Thanks to Alex Wellerstein, author of the spectacular blog Restricted Data, for his help guiding me to source material on this subject.
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This Day in U.S. Military History
1865 – The captain and crew of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, still prowling the waters of the Pacific in search of Yankee whaling ships, is finally informed by a British vessel that the South has lost the war. The Shenandoah was the last major Confederate cruiser to set sail. Launched as a British vessel in September 1863, it was purchased by the Confederates and commissioned in October 1864. The 230-foot-long craft was armed with eight large guns and a crew of 73 sailors. Commanded by Captain James I. Waddell, the Shenandoah steered toward the Pacific and targeted Yankee whaling ships. Waddell enjoyed great success, taking six ships in the South Pacific before slipping into Melbourne, Australia, for repairs in January 1865. Within a month, the Shenandoah was back on the loose, wreaking havoc in the waters around Alaska. The Rebel ship captured 32 additional Union vessels, most of which were burned. The damage was estimated at $1.6 million, a staggering figure in such a short period of time. Although the crew heard rumors that the Confederate armies had surrendered, Waddell continued to fight. He finally accepted an English captain’s report on August 2, 1865. The Shenandoah pulled off another remarkable feat by sailing from the northern Pacific all the way to Liverpool, England, without stopping at any ports. Arriving on November 6, Waddell surrendered his ship to British officials.
1887 – Rowell Hodge patented barbed wire.
1939 – Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
1941 – Lend-Lease aid begins to be sent to the Soviet Union.
1942 – US troops are now being transported to the UK in the passenger liners Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, and Nieuw Amsterdam. These vessels are too fast for standard escorts. Their routes across the Atlantic are based on Admiralty intelligence on U-boat concentrations.
1943 – The 10-day allied bombing of Hamburg, Germany, ended.
1943 – American naval forces bombard Kiska Island, unaware that the Japanese garrison has been evacuated.
1945 – During the night (August 1-2), 820 US B-29 Superfortress bombers drop a record total of 6632 tons of bombs on five Japanese cities including Hachioji, Nagaoka, Mito, Toyama and the petroleum center of Kawasaki. Most of Toyama is obliterated. Also, Americans claim to have sunk 26 ships in the raids.
1964 – North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack the destroyer USS Maddox (DD-731). The American ship had been cruising around the Tonkin Gulf monitoring radio and radar signals following an attack by South Vietnamese PT boats on North Vietnamese facilities on Hon Me and Hon Nhieu Islands (off the North Vietnamese coast) under Oplan 34A. U.S. crews interpreted one North Vietnamese message as indicating that they were preparing “military operations,” which the Maddox’s Captain John Herrick assumed meant some sort of retaliatory attack. His superiors ordered him to remain in the area. Early that afternoon, three North Vietnamese patrol boats began to chase the Maddox. About 3 p.m., Captain Herrick ordered his crew to commence firing as the North Vietnamese boats came within 10,000 yards of his ship; at the same time he radioed the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga for air support. The North Vietnamese boats each fired one torpedo at the Maddox, but two missed and the third failed to explode. U.S. gunfire hit one of the North Vietnamese boats, and then three U.S. Crusader jets proceeded to strafe them. Within 20 minutes, Maddox gunners sunk one of the boats and two were crippled; only one bullet hit the Maddox and there were no U.S. casualties. The Maddox was ordered to withdraw and await further instructions. In Washington, President Lyndon B. Johnson, alarmed by this situation, at first rejected any reprisals against North Vietnam. In his first use of the “hot line” to Russia, Johnson informed Khrushchev that he had no desire to extend the conflict. In the first U.S. diplomatic note ever sent to Hanoi, Johnson warned that “grave consequences would inevitably result from any further unprovoked offensive military action” against U.S. ships “on the high seas.” Meanwhile, the U.S. military command took several critical actions. U.S. combat troops were placed on alert and additional fighter-bombers were sent to South Vietnam and Thailand. The carrier USS Constellation was ordered to the South China Sea to join the USS Ticonderoga. Admiral U.S. Grant Sharp, commander of the Pacific Fleet, ordered a second destroyer, the USS C. Turner Joy, to join the Maddox on station and to make daylight approaches to within eight miles of North Vietnam’s coast and four miles of its islands to “assert the right of freedom of the seas.”
1990 – Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. The day came to be known in Kuwait as “Black Thursday.” 330 Kuwaitis died during the occupation and war. Sadam Hussein, leader of Iraq, took over Kuwait. G. Bush led an inter-national coalition for sanctions and a demand for withdrawal. The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.
1990 – By a vote of 14-0, the United Nations Security Council condemned the invasion and annexation of Kuwait by Iraq and demanded in Resolution 660 the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day . None and we had one a while back
None this Day...Does not happen very often
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for August 2, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
August 2
1909: After tests at Fort Myer, the Army accepted the Wright Flyer as its first aircraft. The aircraft met nd exceeded all specifications. (4) (12) (21)
1911: Miss Harriet Quimby earned the first pilot's license ever issued to a woman by the Aero Club of America, and the second ever earned anywhere by a woman. She received number 37 at Mineola. She had passed the test the day before. Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912) was an American pioneering aviator, journalist, and film screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Although Quimby died at the age of 37 in a flying accident, she strongly influenced the role of women in aviation.
1918: The 135th Corps Observation Squadron sent 18 airplanes on patrol from an airdrome at Ourches, France, to make first patrol along the front by American-built DH-4s with Liberty engines. (20)
1922: Lt Leigh Wade, Capt Albert W. Stevens, and Sgt Roy Langham used a supercharged bomber to set an unofficial three-man altitude record of 23,350 feet over McCook Field. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. Through 3 August, the 374 TCG airlifted 300,000 pounds of equipment and supplies from Ashiya AB to Korea in 24 hours to set a new airlift record for the war. (28)
1957: Republic unveiled its F-105, a future TAC aircraft, to the public.
1958: In its first test, an Atlas-B, with a full propulsion system (boosters and sustainers), flew 2,500 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range after launching from Cape Canaveral. In this flight, the missile underwent the first successful stage separation of a US ICBM. (6)
1968: The modified XV-5A (now the XV-5B Verifan aircraft) made its first vertical and hovering flights.
1969: John A. Manke, NASA test pilot, flew the HL-10 Lifting Body on its first flight of more than 1,000 MPH. (3)
1985: AFLC rolled out the prototype FB-111A aircraft modified under the Avionics Modernization Program for electronics warfare. (16)
1987: The 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing from Tinker AFB completed its 5,000th mission for the Elf One deployment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Elf One began on 1 October 1980, when the war between Iran and Iraq erupted.
1989: The USS Tennessee successfully completed an underwater launch of the UGM-133A Trident II missile for the first time off the coast of Florida. (20)
1992: Operation INTRINSIC ACTION. Through 20 August, AMC moved forces to Kuwait in this exercise to show Iraq our resolve to support the Middle East. (16)
1994: Two B-52s from the 2 BW set an FAI record for an around-the-world flight during a Global Power mission to Kuwait. The 47.2-hour flight needed 5 aerial refuelings. This flight was a first too, going around the world on a bombing mission to drop 54 bombs in a Kuwaiti range near the Iraq’s border. (16)
On August 2, 1990, at about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq’s tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait’s defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed, and those that were not destroyed retreated to Saudi Arabia. The emir of Kuwait, his family, and other government leaders fled to Saudi Arabia, and within hours Kuwait City had been captured and the Iraqis had established a provincial government. By annexing Kuwait, Iraq gained control of 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves and, for the first time, a substantial coastline on the Persian Gulf. The same day, the United Nations Security Council unanimously denounced the invasion and demanded Iraq’s immediate withdrawal from Kuwait. On August 6, the Security Council imposed a worldwide ban on trade with Iraq.
On August 9, Operation Desert Shield, the American defense of Saudi Arabia, began as U.S. forces raced to the Persian Gulf. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, built up his occupying army in Kuwait to about 300,000 troops. On November 29, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it failed to withdraw by January 15, 1991. Hussein refused to withdraw his forces from Kuwait, which he had established as a province of Iraq, and some 700,000 allied troops, primarily American, gathered in the Middle East to enforce the deadline.
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