To All,
Good Friday Morning August 30.. Still no sun but it is expected by 9 or so. Also a high of 81 and then it starts climbing over the next few days to 94 by next Friday which happens to be a Bubba Breakfast. I hope you all enjoy your three day weekend. The list of chores is endless.
Warm Regards,
skip
Make it a good Day
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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 83 H-Grams
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History
August. 30
1923 USS Colorado (BB 45) is commissioned. Notable during her pre-World War II service, she helps in the search for missing aviator, Amelia Earhart, in 1937. During WWII, USS Colorado serves in the Pacific during World War II and is hit by kamikazes at Leyte in November 1944.
1929 At New London, Conn., 26 men test the Momsen lung to exit an intentionally-bottomed submarine. The device was created by Lt. C.B. Momsen following the failure to save surviving crew members trapped in USS S-4 (SS 109) that sank after a collision with Coast Guard cutter USS Paulding in 1927.
1942 USS Colhoun (APD 2) is sunk by Japanese land attack planes (Kizarazu and Misawa Kokutais) off Lunga Point. Fifty-one crewmembers die. High speed transport USS Little (APD 4) and chartered freighter Kopara emerge undamaged from the attack.
1944 U.S. tanker Jacksonville, steaming in convoy CU-36, is torpedoed by German submarine U-482 while en route to Loch Ewe, Scotland. The gasoline cargo explodes, giving little chance for the 49-man merchant complement or the 29-man Armed Guard to abandon the blazing ship, which breaks in two at the second massive explosion. USS Poole (DE 151) rescues a fireman and one Armed Guard gunner, Jacksonville's only survivors.
1945 Rear Adm. Robert B. Carney and Rear Adm. Oscar C. Badger accept the surrender of Yokosuka Naval Base. The Headquarters of Commander, Third Fleet is then established there. Also on this date, USS San Juan (CL 54) evacuates Allied POWs from Japan.
2007 USS Denver (LPD 9) renders medical assistance to an ailing fisherman on board a Qatari-flagged bow while conducting Maritime Security Operations in the Persian Gulf.
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Today in World History August 30
1617 Rosa de Lima of Peru becomes the first American saint to be canonized.
1721 The Peace of Nystad ends the Second Northern War between Sweden and Russia, giving Russia considerably more power in the Baltic region.
1781 The French fleet arrives in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution.
1813 Creek Indians massacre over 500 whites at Fort Mims, Alabama.
1860 The first British tramway is inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis Train.
1861 Union General John Fremont declares martial law throughout Missouri and makes his own emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. President Lincoln overrules the general.
1892 The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.
1932 Nazi leader Hermann Goering is elected president of the Reichstag.
1944 Ploesti, the center of the Rumanian oil industry, falls to Soviet troops.
1961 President John F. Kennedy appoints General Lucius D. Clay as his personal representative in Berlin.
1963 Hot Line communications link installed between Moscow and Washington, DC.
1967 US Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall as first African-American Supreme Court justice.
1976 Tom Brokaw becomes news anchor of Today Show.
1979 First recorded instance of a comet (Howard-Koomur-Michels) hitting the sun; the energy released is equal to approximately 1 million hydrogen bombs.
1982 Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) forced out of Lebanon after 10 years in Beirut during Lebanese Civil War.
1983 Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford, Jr., becomes the first African-American astronaut to travel in space.
1986 KGB arrests journalist Nicholas Daniloff (US News World Report) on a charge of spying and hold him for 13 days.
1983 Eiffel Tower welcomes its 150 millionth visitor, 33-year-old Parisian Jacqueline Martinez.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 26 August 2024 continuing through Sunday, 1 September 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 25 August 1969… Includes two great stories: The saga of "Balky Company A" and the 40 year search for her missing Marine by a wife who never gave up…
(Please note the eye-watering ongoing revamp of the RTR website by Webmaster/Author Dan Heller, who has inherited the site from originators RADM Bear Taylor, USN, Retired, and Angie Morse, "Mighty Thunder")…
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and can read what happened each day to the aircraft and its crew. .Micro is the one also that goes into the archives and finds these inputs and sends them to me for incorporation in the List. It is a lot of work and our thanks goes out to him for his effort.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "for 30 August
30-Aug: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1919
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
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From the archives. Compared to what we have now
Thought you'd enjoy this!
It's one you want your Children and Grandchildren to read.
They won't believe this happened, but it DID.
Harry & Bess
(This seems unreal.)
Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.
When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.
When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You
don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong
to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.
Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.
Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!
I say dig him up and clone him!
If you agree, forward it. If
you don't, delete it. I don't want to know one way or the other. By me
forwarding it, you know how I feel.
Enjoy life NOW! -- it has an expiration date!
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Thanks to Dr. Rich and Ray ... updated for today
Ray's question: "How did it happen so fast"?
Feeling old … heck I'm just getting started at 81!!
Feeling Old In 2024?
This might be the reason why...
- The Beatles split 50years ago.
- The movie, 'Wizard of Oz' is 84 years old.
- Elvis died 46 years ago. He'd be 89 today.
- Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video is 42 years old.
- Mickey Mantle retired 55 years ago.
- The movie, 'Saturday Night Fever' is 49 years old.
- The Ed Sullivan show ended 53 years ago.
- The Corvette turned 71 years old this year.
- The Mustang is 60.
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From the archives. Compared to what we have now
Thought you'd enjoy this!
It's one you want your Children and Grandchildren to read.
They won't believe this happened, but it DID.
Harry & Bess
(This seems unreal.)
Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.
When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.
When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You
don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong
to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.
Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.
Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!
I say dig him up and clone him!
If you agree, forward it. If
you don't, delete it. I don't want to know one way or the other. By me
forwarding it, you know how I feel.
Enjoy life NOW! -- it has an expiration date!
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Thanks to the Smithsonian Magazine
To Mark Japan's Surrender at the End of World War II, This Navy Officer Raced Halfway Around the World With a Historic Flag in Tow
In August 1945, John K. Bremyer undertook a 124-hour, 9,000-mile journey to Tokyo Bay, where he delivered the flag flown by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 to Admiral William Halsey's USS "Missouri"
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
6 Interesting Facts About Massachusetts
Seven million people call the state of Massachusetts home, and almost 30 million visit the Bay State each year. (The nickname is a reference to the original settlements along Cape Cod Bay.) Tourists and residents alike love the spectacular fall foliage, the wildly scenic coastal shoreline, and the abundance of picturesque villages. Boston, the capital, boasts world-class cultural and sporting institutions and — before the Big Dig, the nation's largest highway project — some truly legendary traffic jams. Here are six "wicked smaht" facts about the nation's sixth state.
Massachusetts Is a State of Firsts
Although not the first European settlement in North America (that honor goes to the Spaniards) nor even the first British settlement (Jamestown beat them by 13 years), the state of Massachusetts is nonetheless home to an astounding number of "firsts," both in the nation and the world. Puritans aboard the Mayflower arrived in Provincetown in 1620, and promptly began making milestones. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, and the development of the country's first public park (Boston Common) and first public school (Boston Latin) followed shortly afterward. Later developments in Massachusetts include the invention of the typewriter, and (by some accounts) the computer.
The Name of One Massachusetts Lake Is a Mouthful
The name "Massachusetts," meaning "at or about the great hill," comes from the Massachusett tribe of Native Americans. (The Great Blue Hill region is just south of what is now Boston.) Naturally, many of the state's places bear names from the languages of the first peoples to inhabit the area. No name is more tongue-twisting than that of Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, but according to the Curator of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, the origin of that impossible-to-pronounce name is the result of a newspaperman's joke. Today, the lake is formally known as Chaubunagungamaug, and usually referred to as "Webster Lake," from the city in which it's located.
Every state has its own odd roadside attractions, and Massachusetts is no exception. Pull off the highway near the town of Lincoln to experience "Ponyhenge," an eerie assortment of dilapidated rocking horses. In Rockport, don't miss the Paper House, which is exactly what you think it might be. There's also Sunderland's historic Buttonball Tree: An exceptionally large sycamore standing more than 100 feet tall, it has a girth of 24 feet, 7 inches, said to make it the "widest tree east of the Mississippi River."
Massachusetts Has Been Home to Plenty of Famous Folks
From colonial times to the modern day, Massachusetts has plenty of household names. Four U.S. Presidents hail from the Bay State, along with a ton of Revolutionary War-era heroes, including Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock. And while everyone recognizes actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as proud Bostonians, Bette Davis, Geena Davis, Steve Carell, Leonard Nimoy, and Jack Lemmon are also native sons and daughters. Some staples of literature class originated here as well, including Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Beat legend Jack Kerouac, and Theodor Geisel — better known as "Dr. Seuss."
Massachusetts Is a Health and Education Hot Spot
There's no shortage of medical and educational institutions in the brainy Bay State. The first American university, Harvard, was founded in Newtowne (now Cambridge) in 1636. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been at the forefront of scientific innovation for more than 150 years, and many of the country's other oldest and most prestigious educational institutions are located here as well. Massachusetts is also one of the world's top medical centers, especially for specialty research. In 1947, Dr. Sidney Farber pioneered chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer, and today the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute remains a leader in cancer research and treatment.
Massachusetts Is Home to Sports and Snacks
Dunkin' Donuts, anyone? Founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts, the chain now has more than 10,000 locations around the world. Meanwhile, Fig Newtons were created in Cambridge in 1891, and the official state dessert, Boston cream pie, debuted at the Boston hotel Parker House in 1856. There are also plenty of activities in Massachusetts to counteract those sweet treats: Basketball was invented in Springfield in 1891, volleyball in Holyoke in 1895, and the nation's first marathon was run in Boston in 1897.
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Another one
The History of 7 Oddly Named Foods
Whether you're venturing out to a new restaurant or sharing a home-cooked meal with friends, chances are most of the foods you encounter are pretty self-explanatory. Mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, or chocolate cake — even without much of a description, it's usually easy to discern what will be gracing your plate. But even some of the culinary delights that have become standard American fare carry unusual monikers that may have you wondering about their mysterious origins. Let the backstory on these seven oddly named foods give your brain a mental palate refresher.
Hot Dogs
Despite originating in Germany, hot dogs are an essential American food — an estimated 7 billion hot dogs are served up each summer in the U.S. alone. And with that many sausages on the grill, the name for a food that doesn't involve any actual dogs has become completely mainstream. But where did it come from? Some food historians believe that early songs and jokes gave the wieners their name, suggesting that sausage meat came from dogs. But a more likely story is that German butchers named early American frankfurters "dachshund sausages" after the long and skinny dogs they resembled, which was eventually shortened to "hot dogs."
Sweetbreads
Beware the common confusion about sweetbreads: They're neither sugary nor baked. That's because sweetbreads aren't at all a pastry, but instead a type of offal (organ meats). These small cutlets are actually the thymus and pancreas glands from calves or lambs. While sweetbreads may seem off-putting to some diners, they're known by many chefs to be exceptionally tender with a mild flavor — which could explain their misleading name. The first recorded mention of the British dish dates to the 1500s, a time when "bread" (also written "brede") was the word for roasted or grilled meats. In conjunction with being more delicate and flavorful than tougher cuts, the name "sweetbread" likely took hold.
Head Cheese
There's no dairy involved in making head cheese. In fact, the dish more closely resembles a meatloaf than a slice or wedge of spreadable cheese. That's because head cheese is actually an aspic — a savory gelatin packed with scraps of meat and molded into a sliceable block. As for the name, head cheese gets its label in part from the remnants of meat collected from butchered hog heads. And while not a cheese, it's likely the dish is named such because early recipes called for pressing the boiled meats together in a cheese mold. Head cheese is popular throughout the world, especially in Europe, where it's known by less-confusing names. In the U.K. butchers call the dish "brawn," and meat-eaters in Germany refer to it as "souse."
Pumpernickel Bread
Most bread names are self-explanatory: cinnamon-raisin, sandwich wheat, potato bread. So what exactly is a "pumpernickel"? Originating in Germany, this dark and hefty bread combines rye flour, molasses, and sourdough starter for a dough that bakes at low heat for a whole day. Many American pumpernickel bakers speed up the process by using yeast and wheat flour, which makes for a lighter loaf that reduces (or altogether removes) pumpernickel's namesake side effect: flatulence. German bakers of old acknowledged the bread's gas-inducing ability with an unsavory nickname: pumpern meaning "to break wind," and nickel for "goblin or devil." Put together, the translation reads as "devil's fart" — a reference to how difficult pumpernickel could be on the digestive tract.
Jerusalem Artichokes
If there's any vegetable that suffers from bad branding, it may just be the Jerusalem artichoke — a bumpy root crop that's not actually an artichoke and doesn't have any link to Israel. Unlike their real counterparts, Jerusalem artichokes are actually the edible tuber roots of a sunflower species, similar in appearance to ginger root (real artichokes produce purple, thistle-like flowers that turn into above-ground edible bulbs). Jerusalem artichokes were first called "sunroots" by Indigenous Americans, who shared the tubers with French explorers in the early 1600s. Upon arriving back in France, the vegetables were called topinambours. Italian cooks renamed them girasole, aka "sunflower," in reference to their above-ground buds. As sunroots spread throughout Europe, the girasole morphed into "Jerusalem" thanks to mispronunciation, with the addition of "artichoke" in reference to the vegetable's flavor.
Dutch Baby Pancakes
Few foods are universal, but pancakes may be the exception. While they may be made with culture or region-specific ingredients, nearly every country has some variation of the pancake. Queue the Dutch baby, a baked treat with a name that misidentifies both its origin and size. Also known as a German pancake or pfannkuchen, Dutch babies are a blend of popovers and crepes baked in a large skillet or cast-iron pan, topped with fruit, syrup, or powdered sugar. So how did these dinner-plate-sized pancakes get their most popular moniker? Culinary legend attributes the misnomer to the daughter of a Seattle restaurant owner, who mistakenly subbed "Dutch" for "Deutsch" (meaning German). The eatery downsized its versions into miniature servings and deemed the pancakes "Dutch babies."
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Grasshopper Pie
Insects are protein-packed main courses in many countries, but the idea of chomping down on bugs isn't appealing to all stomachs. Luckily, this bug-branded dessert is entirely free of its namesake insect. Grasshopper pie features a cookie crust and fluffy filling made from whipped cream, mint and chocolate liqueurs, and green food coloring. Fittingly, grasshopper pie often makes its appearance at springtime celebrations just as the leaping bugs are emerging from their winter slumber, but that's not where the name comes from. While hitting peak popularity during the 1950s and '60s, grasshopper pie is actually a dessert version of the grasshopper cocktail, which first debuted some four decades prior. Philibert Guichet, a New Orleans restaurateur, invented the drink as part of a cocktail competition in 1919, naming his creation for its bright green hue.
NICOLE GARNER MEEKER
Writer
Nicole Garner Meeker is a writer and editor based in St. Louis. Her history, nature, and food stories have also appeared at Mental Floss and Better Report.
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Thanks to History Facts
"Ye olde" is pronounced "the old."
The next time you visit Ye Olde Shoppe or Ye Olde Taverne, you should know that the pronunciation of "ye" is actually just the boring, modern "the." Way back in ye days of Old English — the earliest form of English, spoken from 450 CE to 1100 CE — the alphabet had some letters unfamiliar to us today. Starting in the seventh century CE, Christian missionaries began bringing the Latin alphabet with them to the British Isles, which slowly started to replace the runic script used before then. But a few of the older runes were integrated into what became a hybrid alphabet, including thorn (þ), which was pronounced "th."
Until the Late Middle English period (beginning around 1450 CE), one common spelling of the word "the" was "þe," particularly when the word was used at the beginning of a sentence. Over time, Middle English speakers began writing "þ" in a way that looked a little more like a "Y," and once the printing press was invented, printers started just using "Y" to represent the character, especially when converting older written documents to typed ones. By then, "th" was also being used to represent the sound (the letter combination dates all the way back to ancient Rome), and it eventually took over the letter "Y" in the spelling of the word.
"Ye," meaning "the," reentered the popular lexicon with its modern pronunciation around 1850 as a gimmick for businesses that were trying to appear old, a usage that still persists today in business names such as Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. Soon after, "ye olde" also became a figure of speech for describing anything as archaic; one of the earliest uses referenced in the Oxford English Dictionary is a magazine article that describes a character as "ye olde fogie."
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Thanks to Brett
Interesting piece on China
Geopolitical Futures:
Aug 30, 2024
At the recent annual plenary session of the Communist Party of China, officials decided that Xinjiang province – a large, restive region in western China populated by a variety of ethnic minority groups – would have to be turned into a "strategic barrier" against geopolitical threats. The province thus will be home this fall to police vocational trainings and military drills. The decision echoes a statement made last week by Yin Bai, head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, about the need to prevent and resist "color revolutions" – a veiled reference to supposed Western-backed insurgencies.
These developments demonstrate that as China's economic problems linger, the government is increasingly concerned about unrest in at-risk regions like Xinjiang. They also explain why Beijing is trying to maintain a military presence throughout the Asia-Pacific, compelled as it is to show that it can keep up militarily amid the strengthening of the U.S.-led Pacific alliance and the emergence of regional powers such as India.
Recent military activity confirms as much. For example, the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theater Command held "high-intensity" combat drills featuring the Jinggang Shan, one of China's most advanced amphibious warfare ships. The Type-071 landing ship was joined by the CCG-5901, the world's biggest coast guard vessel, along with a number of other new, advanced coast guard ships, in exercises advertised in Chinese media as being designed to break a blockade. At roughly the same time, reports were published about China having installed a laser directed-energy weapon on one of its ships – also a Type-071 amphibious model. (The United States introduced its first laser weapon system on a ship similar to China's Type-071 in late 2019.)
What's more, over the past few years, the Chinese army has added a long-range artillery system to its arsenal, according to the 2023 China Military Power Report by the U.S. Department of Defense. Meanwhile, its navy grew from 340 ships to 370 ships, including a third aircraft carrier, and its number of nuclear warheads increased from about 400 to 500. New capabilities set to be unveiled in the next few years include a new ballistic missile submarine, a strategic bomber, a long-range tanker and possibly a conventionally armed intercontinental ballistic missile. It would appear, then, that China is on its way to turning the PLA into "world-class forces" by 2027.
However, there are constraints on Beijing's ambitions, the most important of which is money. These efforts are wildly expensive, and despite China's recent economic slowdown, it shows no sign of de-prioritizing its security commitments. It's true that these "new" capabilities have been in development for some time, and it's true that Beijing's renewed support for artificial intelligence has and will continue to benefit the military sector, so it's reasonable to believe some of the government's goals will indeed be met. But for the new capabilities just getting off the ground, the situation is more complicated. The cost of high-tech equipment is steadily increasing, and while money is flowing relatively slowly into the defense sector, it could start to run out. Though China's defense burden currently stands at only 2 percent of gross domestic product, a small fraction of the country's overall economic activity, spending here still has to compete with other priority areas, including science and technology, food security, debt servicing and public security. Given that the latter three are more important to keeping people satisfied and staving off political unrest, Beijing will be hard-pressed to abandon them. Put simply, the CPC values stability more than it values military power – hence why Beijing continues to provide substantial financial support to local governments despite its broader economic hardships.
With only so much money available to support defense spending – the 2024 budget included a 7.2 percent hike for defense – Beijing needs foreign investment. Data published by the Ministry of Commerce show the country's foreign direct investment dropped 29.1 percent year-on-year to about 498.9 billion yuan ($69 billion) in the first half of 2024. This is despite repeated vows to provide more market entry points for overseas and private investors, and even to completely remove barriers on participation in the manufacturing sector. Party leaders understand as much. The State Council recently issued a 10-point guideline on optimizing national market access, particularly in health care, education and hi-tech, and at the latest Financial Working Group meeting, the U.S. and China agreed to cooperate on financial stability and, potentially, on financial institution reform.
This is important because China needs to improve its relationship with the U.S. if it is to bring in foreign money and, crucially, maintain access to critical technologies. The Biden administration has limited China's access to semiconductors and dual-use technologies through export controls and investment restrictions, and even though China is almost completely self-sufficient in arms production, strained relations with the U.S. could still result in new restrictions to overcome. This would be daunting in and of itself, but Beijing already has a host of problems it will need to resolve for defense modernization to go smoothly.
For now, China has chosen to look without, rather than within, for new sources of money. A meeting between commerce officials, for example, is slated to take place next week to hash out details on financial coordination. And no matter how assertive Beijing has been lately in places like the South China Sea, it is highly unlikely to be planning any armed conflict as it makes nice with Washington. It will, however, continue to demonstrate its military might, reminding its neighbors that its military is every bit as capable as theirs. In that sense, Beijing will be careful not to demonstrate too hard. It can't afford to spark a conflict when it needs to achieve its financial goals.
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A REPEAT FOR A GREAT SUPPORTER OF THE NAVY Thanks to Kent bigdaddy.pdf you may remember this.......... he was a legend even back in our teen years of the 50's...........I accidentally met him at a Cracker Barrel restaurant a few years ago, really nice guy, very cordial, my wife took a photo of he and I as we chatted.
Kent
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This Day in U S Military History August 30
1780 – General Benedict Arnold betrayed the US when he promised secretly to surrender the fort at West Point to the British army. Arnold whose name has become synonymous with traitor fled to England after the botched conspiracy. His co-conspirator, British spy Major John Andre, was hanged.
1781 – The French fleet of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse arrived in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution. The fleet defeated British under Admiral Graves at battle of Chesapeake Capes.
1913 – Navy tests Sperry gyroscopic stabilizer (automatic pilot).
1918 – The First Army of General John Pershing's American Expeditionary Force moves into position around the German-held St. Mihiel salient to the southeast of Verdun along the Meuse River. Together with the French II Colonial Corps, the First Army will launch an attack on the position in mid-September.
1929 – Near New London, CT, 26 officers and men test Momsen lung to exit submerged USS S-4.
1942 – At Guadalcanal, the American forces receive 18 more fighters and 12 dive bombers.
1945 – American and British forces land in the Tokyo area. The US 11th Airborne Division flies in to Atsugi airfield, while the US 4th Marine Regiment of the US 6th Marine Division lands in the naval base at Yokosuka. Meanwhile, the American cruiser USS San Juan starts to evacuate Allied prisoners of war detained in the Japanese home islands.
1945 – Gen. Douglas MacArthur lands in Japan to oversee the formal surrender ceremony and to organize the postwar Japanese government. The career of Douglas MacArthur is composed of one striking achievement after another. When he graduated from West Point, MacArthur's performance, in terms of awards and average, had only been exceeded in the institution's history by one other person-Robert E. Lee. His performance in World War I, during combat in France, won him more decorations for valor and resulted in his becoming the youngest general in the Army at the time. He retired from the Army in 1934, only to be appointed head of the Philippine Army by its president (the Philippines had U.S. commonwealth status at the time). When World War II broke out, MacArthur was called back to active service-as commanding general of the U.S. Army in the Far East. Because of MacArthur's time in the Far East, and the awesome respect he commanded in the Philippines, his judgment had become somewhat distorted and his vision of U.S. military strategy as a whole myopic. He was convinced that he could defeat Japan if it invaded the Philippines. In the long term, he was correct. But in the short term, the United States suffered disastrous defeats at Bataan and Corregidor. By the time U.S. forces were compelled to surrender, he had already shipped out, on orders from President Roosevelt. As he left, he uttered his immortal line, "I shall return." Refusing to admit defeat, MacArthur took supreme command in the Southwest Pacific, capturing New Guinea from the Japanese with an innovative "leap frog" strategy. MacArthur, true to his word, returned to the Philippines in October 1944, and once again employed an unusual strategy of surprise and constant movement that still has historians puzzled as to its true efficacy to this day. He even led the initial invasion by wading ashore from a landing craft-captured for the world on newsreel footage. With the help of the U.S. Navy, which succeeded in destroying the Japanese fleet, leaving the Japanese garrisons on the islands without reinforcements, the Army defeated adamantine Japanese resistance. On March 3, 1945, MacArthur handed control of the Philippine capital back to its president. On August 30, 1945, MacArthur landed at Atsugi Airport in Japan and proceeded to drive himself to Yokohama. Along the way, tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers lined the roads, their bayonets fixed on him. One last act of defiance-but all for naught. MacArthur would be the man who would reform Japanese society, putting it on the road to economic success.
1945 – A pale green Super Six coupe rolled off the Hudson Company's assembly line, the first post-World War II car to be produced by the auto manufacturer. Like all other U.S. auto manufacturers, Hudson had halted production of civilian cars in order to produce armaments during the war. The Super Six boasted the first modern, high-compression L-head motor, though it garnered its name from the original Hudson-manufactured engine produced in 1916. The name stayed, though the engines became more sophisticated.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
WALSH, KENNETH AMBROSE
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron 124, U.S. Marine Corps. Place and date: Solomon Islands area, 15 and 30 August 1943. Entered service at: New York. Born: 24 November 1916, Brooklyn, N.Y. Other Navy awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with 5 Gold Stars. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron 124 in aerial combat against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area. Determined to thwart the enemy's attempt to bomb Allied ground forces and shipping at Vella Lavella on 15 August 1943, 1st Lt. Walsh repeatedly dived his plane into an enemy formation outnumbering his own division 6 to 1 and, although his plane was hit numerous times, shot down 2 Japanese dive bombers and 1 fighter. After developing engine trouble on 30 August during a vital escort mission, 1st Lt. Walsh landed his mechanically disabled plane at Munda, quickly replaced it with another, and proceeded to rejoin his flight over Kahili. Separated from his escort group when he encountered approximately 50 Japanese Zeros, he unhesitatingly attacked, striking with relentless fury in his lone battle against a powerful force. He destroyed 4 hostile fighters before cannon shellfire forced him to make a dead-stick landing off Vella Lavella where he was later picked up. His valiant leadership and his daring skill as a flier served as a source of confidence and inspiration to his fellow pilots and reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for August 30, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
30 August
1913: The General Board of the Navy asked for a naval air service to be created, with funding first budgeted in 1914. (10)
1939: The Pan American Airway's California Clipper landed at Auckland, New Zealand, to complete the first flight of fortnightly service from San Francisco. (24)
1945 Through 12 September, Special Mission 75 ferried 39,928 occupation troops and 8,202 tons of supplies from a staging area in Okinawa to Japan. The mission used 259 C–54s and 360 B-24 bombers as cargo planes, and associated aircraft. (18)
1946: Paul Mantz from Burbank won the Bendix Trophy air race. In a P-51, he averaged 435.604 MPH over a 2,048-mile course from California to Cleveland. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. An experimental B-29 flare mission lit the Han River near Seoul before dawn for a B-26 strike against an elusive enemy pontoon bridge. When it could not be found, the B-26s attacked the permanent bridge. (28)
1953: TAC's Eighteenth Air Force transferred its last C-122 aircraft into storage.
1955: The USAF proved its worldwide ability to deploy fighters when a flight commander, who had breakfast near London, England, took off with a F-84F Thunderstreak formation and reached Austin 10 hours 48 minutes later in time for lunch with his family. (4)
1958: Operation DOUBLE TROUBLE or X-RAY TANGO/MACKAY TROPHY. Concurrently with the Lebanon Crisis (see 15 July 1958), Chinese communists, with Soviet backing, threatened to invade Taiwan, Quemoy, and Matsu, To Taiwan, TAC deployed its Composite Air Strike Force of B-57s, F-100s, F-101s, and C-130s to Taiwan, while PACAF sent an F-86D squadron from Okinawa to provide night defense alert and the Air Defense Command deployed a squadron of F-104s. During the shelling of Quemoy and Matsu, Chinese MiG-17s began to fly over the Nationalist-held islands. Nationalist Chinese F-86 pilots from Taiwan proved to be more than a match for the communist pilots, shooting down 32 MiGs (with 3 probables and 10 damaged). MATS C-118s, C-121s, and C-124s airlifted the Composite Air Strike Force and ADC squadron, while later supporting the effort with 144 C-124 missions. The rapid deployment of the Composite Air Strike Force earned a Mackay Trophy. (2) (17) (18) (21)
1960: The USAF declared six Atlas missiles of the 564 SMS at Francis E. Warren AFB operational, which made it the first combat ready ICBM squadron. (See 9 August 1960) (6) (16)
1974: Operation COLD JUICE I: A C-5 flew MAC's first long-range, air refueled mission over water, flying from Dover AFB to Clark AB. The aircraft covered the 10,600 statute miles in 21 hours 30 minutes. KC-135s transferred 289,000 pounds of fuel. A total of eight Cold Juice demonstration flights were flown with the last flights in January 1975 leading to the development of cell air refueling procedures and techniques for strategic airlift. (2) (18) Through 31 August, Detachment 13 of the 41st Air Rescue and Recover Wing saved 36 Koreans from the floodwaters surrounding Kwang Ju, Korea. (16)
1979: HURRICANE DAVID. After the storm hit Dominica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guadaloupe, and the Dominican Republic, killing 6,000 people and leaving 150,000 homeless. MAC C-5s, C-141s, and C-130s moved 2,881 tons of supplies and 1,358 passengers on 251 missions to the area through 21 November. Jamaica also received 32 tons of cargo and 35 passengers for assistance. (2)
1982: The F-5G Tigershark (later F-20) flew its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3)
1983: The third Challenger and eighth Space Shuttle mission set several records: (1) 54-year-old Bill Thornton--the oldest astronaut, (2) Guion Bluford--first black astronaut in space, and (3) the first shuttle to launch and land at night at Edwards AFB. The Challenger also launched INSAT, India's satellite, before returning to Earth on 3 September. (8)
1994: PEACEKEEPER 94. Through 12 September 9 C-141 aircraft participated in the first joint US Russian training exercise. From 30 August to 6 September, 25 C-141 missions carried 320 US troops and support personnel and 610 tons of cargo to Totskoye, Russia. On 8-12 September, AMC then redeployed the US troops to Germany on 27 C-141 missions. (16)
1995: Operation DELIBERATE FORCE. NATO and US aircraft began airstrikes on Serbian ground positions in Bosnia-Herzegovina to support this UN operation. The airstrikes, with a Bosnian-Croatian ground attack, convinced the Serbs to accept peace terms in late 1995. (16) (21)
2005: HURRICANE KATRINA. A 172d Airlift Wing aircrew and C-17 (Mississippi ANG) flew the Air National Guard's first Katrina relief mission. It lasted three days. (32) HURRICANE KATRINA. ANG personnel made 600 rescues one day after Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, 100 by helicopter and 500 by pararescue specialists in ZODIAC boats. (32) HURRICANE KATRINA. The ANG deployed seven RC-26B aircraft and nine crews from eight states to assist in Gulf Coast relief operations. The RC-26B provided airborne imagery, on-board exploitation and limited dissemination to various ground components. Through 16 September, they flew 297.9 hours in support this effort. HURRICANES KATRINA/RITA. Through 29 November, the ANG flew 4,132 airlift sorties, airlifted 34,639 passengers, and carried 11,496 tons of cargo for hurricane relief efforts in the southeastern US. In addition, ANG transports evacuated 2,046 patients from the region, while ANG helicopters moved 23,604 endangered people in Louisiana and Mississippi to local safe havens. (32)
2006: A Dryden Flight Research Center flight crew from Edwards AFB conducted the first-ever autonomous probe-and-drogue airborne refueling. The joint NASA and DARPA Autonomous Airborne Refueling Demonstration project was carried out by an F/A-18 configured to operate as an unmanned test bed. The system used GPS-based relative navigation and an optical tracker to position the probe into the center of a 32-inch basket streaming behind the tanker. (3)
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