To All,
Good Saturday morning December 28 the last Saturday of 2024.
Warm Regards,
Skip
Make it a GREAT Day
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Go here to see the director's corner for all 85 H-Grams
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
December 28
1905—The dry dock Dewey leaves Solomon's Island, MD, en route through the Suez Canal to the Philippines to serve as repair base. It is the longest towing job accomplished at the time, guided by the tug Potomac, a pair of colliers Brutus and Caesar, and the store ship Glacier, arriving at its destination nearly six months later, July 10, 1906.
1941—Rear Adm. Ben Moreell, chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks, requests construction battalions be recruited.
1944—USS Dace (SS 247) attacks a Japanese convoy off Cape Varella, French Indochina and sinks supply ship Nozaki and damages Chefoo Maru.
1982—USS New Jersey (BB 62), the first of four Iowa-class battleships, is recommissioned for the third time after her original 1943 commissioning.
1990—USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and USS America (CV 66) Carrier Battle Groups deploy from Norfolk, VA, for the Middle East to join Operation Desert Shield.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in World History: December 28
1688 William of Orange makes a triumphant march into London as James II flees.
1694 George I of England gets divorced.
1846 Iowa is admitted as the 29th State of the Union.
1872 A U.S. Army force defeats a group of Apache warriors at Salt River Canyon, Arizona Territory, with 57 Indians killed but only one soldier.
1904 Farmers in Georgia burn two million bales of cotton to prop up falling prices.
1920 The United States resumes the deportation of communists and suspected communists.
1927 U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg suggests a worldwide pact renouncing war.
1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt states, "The definite policy of the United States, from now on, is one opposed to armed intervention."
1936 Benito Mussolini sends planes to Spain to support Francisco Franco's forces.
1938 France orders the doubling of forces in Somaliland; two warships are sent.
1946 The French declare martial law in Vietnam as a full-scale war appears inevitable.
1948 Premier Nokrashy Pasha of Egypt is assassinated by a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood because of his failure to achieve victory in the war against Israel.
1951 The United States pays $120,000 to free four fliers convicted of espionage in Hungary.
1965 The United States bars oil sales to Rhodesia.
1968 Israel attacks an airport in Beirut, destroying 13 planes.
1971 The U.S. Justice Department sues Mississippi officials for ignoring the voting ballots of blacks in that state.
On December 28, 1895, the world's first commercial movie screening takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and Auguste Lumière, two French brothers who developed a camera-projector called the Cinematographe. The Lumière brothers unveiled their invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film showing workers leaving the Lumière factory. On December 28, the entrepreneurial siblings screened a series of short scenes from everyday French life and charged admission for the first time.
Movie technology has its roots in the early 1830s, when Joseph Plateau of Belgium and Simon Stampfer of Austria simultaneously developed a device called the phenakistoscope, which incorporated a spinning disc with slots through which a series of drawings could be viewed, creating the effect of a single moving image. The phenakistoscope, considered the precursor of modern motion pictures, was followed by decades of advances and in 1890, Thomas Edison and his assistant William Dickson developed the first motion-picture camera, called the Kinetograph. The next year, 1891, Edison invented the Kinetoscope, a machine with a peephole viewer that allowed one person to watch a strip of film as it moved past a light.
In 1894, Antoine Lumière, the father of Auguste (1862-1954) and Louis (1864-1948), saw a demonstration of Edison's Kinetoscope. The elder Lumière was impressed, but reportedly told his sons, who ran a successful photographic plate factory in Lyon, France, that they could come up with something better. Louis Lumière's Cinematographe, which was patented in 1895, was a combination movie camera and projector that could display moving images on a screen for an audience. The Cinematographe was also smaller, lighter and used less film than Edison's technology.
The Lumières opened theaters (known as cinemas) in 1896 to show their work and sent crews of cameramen around the world to screen films and shoot new material. In America, the film industry quickly took off. In 1896, Vitascope Hall, believed to be the first theater in the U.S. devoted to showing movies, opened in New Orleans. In 1909, The New York Times published its first film review (of D.W. Griffith's Pippa Passes), in 1911 the first Hollywood film studio opened and in 1914, Charlie Chaplin made his big-screen debut.
In addition to the Cinematographe, the Lumières also developed the first practical color photography process, the Autochrome plate, which debuted in 1907.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to the Bear. .
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER ….
. rollingthunderremembered.com .
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Saturday 28 December
December 28: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2678
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.
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 Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
FROM: Joe C.
SUBJ: TENTH NIGHT OF OPERATION LINEBACKER II
SUBJ: 10th Night of OLB II
Sixty B-52s from U-Tapao supported by 99 tactical aircraft attacked the SAM sites around Hanoi while two waves hammered the Lang Dang railway yard on the northeast railway again. You will hear more about the effectiveness of B-52 accuracy and devastation in an after action report following the eleventh night, heh, heh.
Unfortunately, an RA-5C Vigilante was hit by an air-to-air missile from a MiG caught fire and crashed into the sea. The pilot was rescued but the NFO was killed.
No B-52s were lost and the crews reported that fewer SAMs were fired than on previous nights.
28 B-52s from Andersen AB were also sent to other targets to spread cheer in Southeast Asia on that same night.
One man from the RA-5C was KIA. A toast to Navy Lieutenant Michael Firestone Haifley. Hear, Hear!
Joe
P.S. Tomorrow will be the last of the LB II email series. My sources of information were Chris Hobson's "Vietnam Air Losses", The Eleven Days of Christmas, by Marshall Michel III and "Palace Cobra" by the late Ed Rasimus, RIP. All are highly recommended additions to any air warrior's library. Only don't lend them to anybody or you'll never see them again.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Carl
'From the archives
Navy SEAL Team 6 founder Richard Marcinko dead at 81
(A REAL Rogue Warrior!! In one of his books, he called TAD "traveling around drunk"! It is actually Temporary Additional Duty. Interesting that McRaven was PC as a JO. My NSA boss enjoyed Marcinko's books too, and we often talked about how he used Operational Security in his ops. Very few leaders at the time were aware of OPSEC. I do not remember his side of the story about the defrauding charge, but I would bet that instead of using the slow procurement BS to obtain special hand grenades, he just did it on his own. Then the PC crowd wanted to set an example of his "culture of wrecklessness". Highly recommend his books! Again, a REAL warrior!!)
How SEAL Team 6 founder Richard Marcinko shaped America's modern-day special operations forces
Richard Marcinko, founding commander of the storied Navy SEAL Team 6, set the stage for special operations forces as we know them today.
BY MAX HAUPTMAN | PUBLISHED DEC 27, 2021 1:41 PM
Richard Marcinko, the rough and tumble first commander of the Navy's storied SEAL Team 6, passed away Saturday at his home in Virginia, the National Navy SEAL Museum announced on social media. He was 81 years old.
Already a highly decorated officer with more than a decade of service in the SEALs, in 1979 Marcinko was one of two Navy representatives on a Joint Chiefs of Staff task force assembled to help develop a rescue plan during the Iranian hostage crisis. The subsequent mission, Operation Eagle Claw, was disastrous, leaving 12 casualties and seven aircraft and helicopters destroyed or abandoned in Iran. It's aftermath, however, would see Marcinko at the forefront of an emerging mission for America's special operations personnel.
In 1980, Marcinko was selected by the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Thomas B. Hayward, to build a new SEAL unit dedicated to rapid response, hostage rescue, and counter-terrorism operations.
While special operations have grown immensely in the decades since, at the time it was an underutilized and undermanned aspect of the military.
The now iconic name – SEAL Team 6 – started as a bit of Cold War-era deception. At the time, there were only two active SEAL Teams. Marcinko designated his new unit "six," hoping that the Soviet Union and other nations would greatly overestimate the size of the Navy's special operations community.
Marcinko led the unit from 1980-1983, hand picking new members from across the Navy's existing SEAL Teams and Underwater Demolition Teams. As commander, Marcinko helped establish the aggressive, hard-charging culture of his new unit, and made little effort to conceal its maverick nature, openly flaunting rules and regulations. In his autobiography, "Rogue Warrior," Marcinko wrote of the importance of drinking together and often as a fixture in building Team 6's solidarity.
Marcinko's personality and the nature of the unit weren't for everyone. Adm. William McRaven, who would later go on to lead Special Operations Command and oversee SEAL Team 6 during its famous raid against Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was drummed out of the unit after disagreeing with Marcinko over what he perceived as a culture of recklessness.
Over the ensuing decades, SEAL Team 6, nowadays known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, would continue to live up to Marcinko's rogue reputation, taking on some of the nation's most dangerous and secretive missions. From Operation Anaconda, to the MV Maersk Alabama hijacking, to the aforementioned bin Laden raid, the unit's exploits have been recounted again and again, and made the focus of dozens of movies and books.
Marcinko retired from the Navy as a commander in 1989, going on to become a best-selling author and motivational speaker and military consultant. His 1992 autobiography "Rogue Warrior," as well as its subsequent sequel "Rogue Warrior: Green Team" sold millions of copies and are filled with countless exploits from a lifetime spent at the forefront of the special operations fight. Marcinko later used the Rogue Warrior brand for a series of eight bestselling novels, co-written with Jonathan Weisman, according to Marcinko's Amazon author profile.
Marcinko's career was also not without its troubles. In 1990, he was convicted of defrauding the government over acquisition prices for hand grenades and sentenced to 21 months in prison, eventually serving 15.
Marcinko was born on Nov. 21, 1940, in the small, eastern Pennsylvania town of Lansford. Enlisting in the Navy in 1958, he would rise through the ranks and eventually make his way to a SEAL team in 1966.
In 1967, Marcinko deployed to Vietnam with SEAL Team 2, participating in a raid at Ilo Ilo Island which the Navy described as one of its most successful operations in the Mekong Delta. During a second deployment, which came during the Tet Offensive in 1968, Marcinko led his SEAL platoon in house-to-house fighting, later rescuing several American nurses and schoolteachers trapped in a nearby hospital. Marcinko would go on to be awarded four Bronze Stars, a Silver Star and a Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry, according to the National Navy SEAL Museum.
On Sunday, Marcinko's son wrote on Twitter that, "his legacy will live forever. The man has died a true legend."
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
How a complex language helped the U.S. in WWII
During WWII, the U.S. coded messages in the Navajo language
Diné bizaad is an Indigenous language primarily used by the Navajo, or Diné, people of the American Southwest. Not only is the language complex, but it's traditionally passed down orally. During World War II, the United States military used this to its advantage by recruiting Navajo people fluent in both English and Diné bizaad, dubbed "code talkers," to transmit secret messages among Allied forces.
The U.S. military wasn't the first to use the tactic — members of Cherokee, Lakota, and other nations used their native tongues to evade German detection in World War I. The Marines, however, established the first formal training program for code talkers, and 29 Navajo completed the training in 1942. Recruits developed and memorized a two-part secret code inside a guarded room. The first part used 26 Diné bizaad words to stand in for letters of the English alphabet. The next part was more complex, and required making up hundreds of terms for English words that didn't have a direct translation — for example, "iron fish" for "submarine," and "humming bird" for "fighter plane."
Even after recruiting more trainees into the program, the Marines struggled to find enough soldiers fluent in both languages to scale the program. But where code talkers were deployed, they passed along information with incredible security and accuracy. The Navajo Marines provided a valuable and often dangerous service to the U.S. military and its allies, but ironically, many had attended government or church-run boarding schools where they were punished for speaking languages other than English. After the war, the code talkers and their service went completely unacknowledged for decades. Their mission stayed classified until 1968, in case the military wanted to use the code again. In 2001, the original 29 code talkers were finally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, and the rest were awarded the Congressional Silver Medal.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to DR and Rich
Subject: Enjoy all the wonderful Holidays happening now
Hi to all -
12-26-2024 Enjoy all the holidays happening now
Christmas
Hope all of you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, and that Santa was as good to you as he was to me. The New Year is upon us, and looks very promising and bright. Thanks to all of you who sent holiday wishes, and who have participated in our ongoing discussions and awareness of all that is happening around us. It has been exciting, and worth it all.
Zelenskyy
He has finally admitted what wiser heads have known all along. "We do not have the strength to retake Crimea and Donbas." He cannot win this war, and NATO is not going to fight it for him. A settlement is coming, sooner rather than later, and will involve some loss of territory for Ukraine. Perhaps the coming year will see an end to the terrible bloodshed that has taken place. Ukraine put up a far better fight than anyone imagined they could, and proved that their soldiers are at least the equal of those of Russia. But tiny Ukraine is still not able to defeat massive Russia.
J-6
New releases show that Trump actually ordered National Guard troops into Washington to prevent the disruptions of J-6, but that the Pentagon ignored him, and that senior military officers openly disobeyed his order. No wonder they are so afraid - a reckoning is coming, very soon.
Liz Cheney has been referred for criminal prosecution for witness tampering in the J-6 show trials.
Student Loan Forgiveness
In yet another effort to peddle this illegal program, Joe has failed, again, and has dropped his demand to forgive billions - or more accurately, transfer the cost to taxpayers - so this idea is about to die a slow and painful death. Perhaps in the new year we will see the federal government get out of the student loan business. We did not have this problem until Obama took over the loan business. Like many other socialist government programs, costs skyrocketed, quality fell, and everyone was a loser, save for the universities, who jacked up prices. If we get the government out of universities, I bet costs would drop, and quality of education would climb. Some schools cannot survive in a competitive market, and would close, and those cushy jobs of 'professors' would become a bit more scarce.
NATO
One of Trump's proposals is that NATO pay its fair share. They started down this path in his last term, and dropped it as soon as he left office. This time, they are broke, out of weapons and ammo, and will stare down the Russians without our help. Poland is one of the few nations that has taken the idea of self defense to heart. They have initiated 'mandatory' firearms training in all their schools for young people aged 13-14. Sweden has done this for generations, which is one reason why they have not been in a war in 500 years. Every able bodied adult serves in their military, and keeps their service weapon at home. The 'family safe' often contains weapons from several generations of adult males. Their mountainous countryside has hundreds, perhaps thousands of caves and bunkers, filled with weapons and supplies that could be used to protect their nation from attack. That, and the difficulty of traveling in such a rugged country, discourages others from invasion.
Poland has also done some very smart things to modernize without running up a massive bill. For example, they had lots of old Russian tanks. Building a tank is costly, so Poland took the old tank hulls (one of the most costly things to create), and gave them new engines, armor, and gun aiming systems. The hulls were good and could serve many years longer. Adding new add-on reactive armour made these old tanks almost as good as the very latest (and far more expensive) models made in the west.
Auto Industry
Honda and Nissan are considering a merger. Designing and building new cars is very costly, and this could allow them to combine their strengths to be more competitive.
Unions claim to have a lot to do with progress. Fact is, they are more interested in maintaining the status quo than progress. Unions did not create the weekend. Nor the 8 hour workday, nor the 40 hour five day workweek. Nor did they create the 'living wage'. Those innovations came from Henry Ford, who did this to be more competitive in the market, and to attract great workers. Unions always oppose innovation, because 'change causes distress'. But, reality is that change is necessary and continuous. Most people today do not work in the jobs that existed 50-100 years ago. Most jobs today did not even exist back then. This trend will continue, and the pace of change will accelerate. In spite of the unions.
Turkey
They see themselves as the big winner in the ever changing world of middle east politics. They think they can run Syria by proxy, and return to the superpower they were prior to WWI. They may be right.
CEO Murder
Did you notice? A high profile killing did not result in a single cry for 'gun control'. No politicians ran to their soapbox to demand silly solutions for the problems of gun violence. In fact, among young people, there was a 41% approval for this act of violence. Corporate greed is on notice that people are fed up and demanding change. I will bet that RFK and the rest of the team will deliver change.
Illegals
Democrats are digging in to prevent deportations. Did you know that illegals sent $56 billion of your dollars to their home countries last year? Many of these folks work under the radar, and do not pay taxes, or very little tax. One way to stem this flow of our wealth is to tax the financial transfers. For example, Western Union does not do telegrams any more. Technology such as email has put that market out of business. But they specialize in sending money to other nations by wire transfer. In some trial runs, that money has been taxed, ensuring that the US gets some benefit from the labor of those illegals. This could be expanded and will have a serious impact on this enterprise. Changing the tax system from an 'income tax' (which is the #1 goal of socialism) to a spending tax (i.e. a kind of sales tax - proposed by the FairTax - which politicians hate as it takes away the foundation of their power and ability to make deals with corporations) would make everyone pay their fair share. Those who spend a little would pay a little. Those who spend a lot would pay a lot - proportional to their choices and actions. Equality before the law. An idea that has been around for decades, but whose time may have come. Something to think about.
A lot to look forward to in the coming year.
Rich
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Subject: Another Navy Jet Nearly Shot Down by Friendly Fire in the Red Sea – RedState
To:
Thanks to Bruddah ....
. I think all the pilots ought to report to sick bay until USS Gettysburg is taken off the line.
"Navy pilots are angry about the incident and question the training aboard the USS Gettysburg, the source said, calling it 'insufficient.'" Yep, I bet that is exactly what they called it."
Ya think? Or is it some of these woke operators see our fighters as "oppressors" and they're doing their part to bring about "peace on Earth?"
Friendly fire is anything but! "Not to worry Mrs. Jones, your boy was killed by our own people." Flying off of aircraft carriers is dangerous enough. You don't need the added excitement of getting shot at by the plane guard!
This incident ought to be a big boost for recruiting, wouldn't you think?
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to John
I was "on" the Bob Hope show on December 24, 1968.
Our squadron was assigned two sorties that day - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon at the same time as the Bob Hope Show. He was at the Americal Division but anyone from the Chu Lai area attended. It was sort of an amphitheater where the show was held.
As the two junior lieutenants in the squadron, Lee Hammack and I were assigned to both sorties. The target was west of Chu Lai and our 'brilliant' plan was to come from the west somewhat out of the sun as fast as we could go and certainly LOW as was safe. We would be on the north side of the theater - behind the backs of all those in attendance who could tell who we were and only visible from the stage. We'd be out of sight for identification purposes in seconds as the plan was to turn north so only our tails would be visible, then out to sea and we had enough fuel to loiter somewhere so we could plausibly deny any participation.
Lee had a "no spot" for one of the bombs on his first run but an occasional bomb failing to arm wasn't unusual and the FAC could have easily missed it.
After "Winchester", we headed for the show. Lee was on the left side. I thought that since I'd be turning left, it would be better for him if he were on the right so I wouldn't turn into him as we turned away so I crossed him under. When I looked at him tucked in nice and tight, there on his left wing was a hung 500 pound bomb. I immediately started a turn away so you can barely see our planes. Just the noise.
My daughter found the footage about ten years ago. So, I was ON the Bob Hope Show.
Christmas day was silent and quiet as I stood the duty in duty shack on the flight line. I don't remember seeing a soul except when I went to chow.
Merry Christmas,
John
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to the American Facts
Is That A Crime? 10 Of The Most Bizarre Laws In America
America is known as the land of the free, but we also have a lot of laws and rules that allow us to live together as a community. While most of us are familiar with major laws, did you know that many states, cities, and towns have some very specific and unique rules? Some of the laws highlighted in this article may seem strange, obscure, or downright ridiculous, but keep in mind—they exist for a reason. Read on to discover 10 weird and funny laws sanctioned across the U.S. you probably didn't know existed.
Beware of the banana peel!
It might sound like a scene straight out of The Three Stooges, but we assure you, this was once a legitimate concern. It's no myth that residents of Waco, Texas are forbidden from eating bananas and tossing the peels into the street. Lawmakers feared horses could slip on the peels and injure themselves.
This is also true for Elmira, New York. A city ordinance from 1899 stated that no person could throw any banana peels—or any other fruit skins—onto the sidewalk. As it happens, back when bananas were introduced to the northern states, they were very cheap and people usually bought them in bulk. The surplus was huge and the waste was becoming a problem. In fact, in 1893 a woman sued the city after slipping on a banana peel, falling on the sidewalk, and breaking her leg.
Dueling candidates
It may sound old-fashioned, but this law is still in effect in West Virginia. To be eligible as governor, a candidate must not only be at least 30 years old and have resided in the state for at least five years preceding the election, but they must also never have participated in a duel.
According to §6-5-7 of the West Virginia Code, any citizen who sends or accepts a challenge or participates in a duel with deadly weapons "shall ever thereafter be incapable of holding any office of honor, trust or profit in this state." By the end of the American Civil War dueling had become almost obsolete, but for some reason, The Mountain State is one of the few states that still hasn't repealed its dueling laws.
Extraterrestrial exposure
Despite popular opinion, Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations did not make it illegal for Americans to have contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles. Instead, the law was enacted just before the Apollo 11 mission to give the government authority to quarantine astronauts in case they became contaminated with an alien virus during their moonwalk.
This regulation, best known as the Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law was adopted by NASA in 1969. It stipulated that astronauts be kept in isolation for 21 days after their liftoff from the Moon in case there was a remote possibility that they were harboring "unknown lunar organisms that might endanger life on Earth." The rule was revoked in 1977 and formally repealed in 1991.
Women vote
Did you know that although American women were not universally granted the right to vote until 1920, state laws in New Jersey allowed them to vote as early as 1776? In 1790, when the New Jersey State Constitution was reformed, it formalized what the previous constitution had only implied: that propertied women could vote.
A few years later, a law expanded the previous election reforms and allowed women without "clear estate" to vote too. So, after the adoption of this 1797 law, the number of women voters at the polls significantly increased. New Jersey women enthusiastically exercised their rights until 1807, when the state finally restricted voting to white men.
Keep it classy
If you want to live in North California, you have to follow some rules of good taste. In 1998, the city of Wilson outlawed the keeping of upholstered furniture on front porches, on the basis that the practice was unsightly and tacky.
A year later, the town of Morganton followed suit, outlawing couches, recliners, and similar indoor furniture from verandas and yards. Mel Cohen, the city mayor at the time, said that outdoor furniture was drawing many complaints, so the city embarked on a quest to "beautify" the neighborhoods. Violators of the ordinance could be fined up to $300 for their offense.
Three-second hugging
By the beginning of the 21st century, the rules of public displays of affection seemed to be changing and left previous generations in a state of confusion. In 2009, after noticing an increasing number of students embracing in the hallways, school officials in Hillsdale, New Jersey, implemented a "three-second hugging" rule. Apparently, adults were concerned that the constant displays of affection could disrupt the flow of hallway traffic.
Teenagers argued that the gesture was entirely unromantic and merely a way of saying "hello." However, schools preferred to go back to the old handshake in order to maintain an atmosphere of academic seriousness and to prevent any instances of unwanted physical contact.
Blue sundaes
Ever heard of "blue laws"? Blue laws are rules that once banned certain activities on Sundays, adopted originally for religious reasons. Blue laws often restricted business and recreational activities to encourage observance of the Christian day of worship.
For example, buying ice cream on Sundays was once illegal in Ohio because it was thought to be frivolous and luxurious. To circumvent this law, ice cream vendors began adding fruit toppings to disguise the frozen treat below and make it appear more "nutritious." This clever workaround ultimately led to the creation of the ice cream sundae.
Poking turkeys
Finding the perfect Thanksgiving turkey can be an artistry or a real challenge. How can you ensure that the well-rounded breast you pick up in the supermarket's poultry section will turn into a delicious, juicy treat?
Everyone has their own strategy, but depending on which state you are in, your method might actually be illegal without you even knowing it. For example, did you know that in Los Angeles, California, it is prohibited to poke a turkey for sale in a meat market to check its tenderness? Don't say we didn't warn you!
Permanent marks
Carrying a marker in your pocket, purse, or backpack while walking the streets of California could land you in trouble. In the Golden State, it's illegal to possess "broad-tipped indelible markers" —a.k.a. permanent markers—in a public space. Any person carrying a chisel, an awl, an aerosol paint container, or a harmless felt tip marker can be accused of committing vandalism.
The law is in place to curb graffiti and other forms of unauthorized street art. It is considered a misdemeanor and can be punished with up to 90 hours of community service, typically scheduled outside of school or work hours.
Go nuts!
Nuts can be a real problem for many people with food allergies. But even so, these laws prohibiting the consumption of nuts in public places may surprise you. For instance, in Boston, Massachusetts, it's illegal to eat peanuts in church. Meanwhile, in Charleston, South Carolina, eating nuts on a public bus can result in a fine of up to $500 and as much as 60 days in jail.
If you thought it couldn't get any more specific than that, hold your horses! In Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, people are not allowed to eat peanuts while walking backward in front of the Barnstormers Theater during a performance. Probably the craziest law on this list, don't you think?
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Felix ...
The next time you're on the highway and behind a semi take notice of the horizontal bar that is in the rear of the trailer. It's called "The Mansfield Bar''.
Here's why it has the strange and dubious name.
Jayne Mansfield (left), photoshopped in this picture beside her daughter Miriska Hargitay (the TV actress who plays the tough detective on Law and Order SVU), was arguably the most beautiful actress in Hollywood at the time of her untimely death in 1967 on a dark highway outside of New Orleans.
Mansfield, three other adults and her three-year-old daughter who was asleep on the rear seat were coming into the city from a promotional appearance she had earlier that day in Mississippi.
They encountered a mosquito fogging truck ahead emitting a thick white fog that obscured the highway and caused other traffic to slow. The driver of Mansfield's car swerved into another lane without slowing down where a slower moving semi was also masked by the fog.
With no time to slow down the '66 Buick Electra ran under the rear of the trailer, decapitating all four adults in the car. Jayne's daughter Miriska survived with nothing but a scar on her forehead which she carries to this day (makeup must cover it for the TV cameras).
Because of the popularity of Mansfield at the time, equal to, or greater than Marilyn Monroe, and the gruesome and horrific severity of the crash that made all the news for months. The ICC soon after mandated that all trailer manufacturers building semi trailers for operation in the U.S. would have a rear bumper to prevent similar deaths. The technical name is the Rear Underrun Protection System, but to this day it's called the "Mansfield Bar '' in the trucking industry and her namesake bar has undoubtedly saved many lives since.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Interesting Facts
Egypt's Library of Alexandria, possibly built around the fourth century BCE, was reputed to hold the wealth of humankind's accumulated knowledge in the ancient world. That makes "Alexa" an inspired choice for the name of the voice-activated virtual assistant that debuted with the Amazon Echo smart speaker in 2014. Yet this was hardly the only name strongly considered by Alexa's developers — nor even the favored choice of the company founder who pushed to bring the project to life.
As told in Brad Stone's Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire, the project's speech-science team had specific criteria for an appropriate "wake word," a vocal signal that would bring the virtual assistant to life. This word needed to have a distinct combination of phonemes — units of sound — and be at least three syllables, to diminish the likelihood of the program being accidentally triggered by everyday conversation. Bezos, the hands-on head honcho, offered several suggestions: "Finch," the title of Jeff VanderMeer's fantasy detective novel; "Friday," the helpful companion of Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Crusoe; and "Samantha," the enchantress played by Elizabeth Montgomery in the hit 1960s sitcom Bewitched. Bezos also came up with "Alexa," but seemed especially attached to "Amazon," reasoning that it could spark favorable feelings toward the company.
Despite the objections of his staff, Bezos clung to "Amazon" as a wake word until finally giving the go-ahead for the switch to "Alexa" a few weeks before the 2014 launch. As the company now proudly notes, the virtual assistant's name "was inspired by the Library of Alexandria and is reflective of Alexa's depth of knowledge." Yet certain Alexa-infused products offer the option of changing the wake word, reminiscent of that great learning center of antiquity, to one of a small list of replacements that still includes the choice of "Amazon."
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in U S Military History December 28
1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army. On December 23, 1835 two companies of US troops, totaling 110 men, left Fort Brooke under the command of Maj. Francis L. Dade. Seminoles shadowed the marching soldiers for five days. On December 28 the Seminoles ambushed the soldiers, and killed all but three of the command, which became known as the Dade Massacre. Only three white men survived; Edwin De Courcey, was hunted down and killed by a Seminole the next day. The two survivors, Ransome Clarke and Joseph Sprague, returned to Fort Brooke. Only Clarke, who died of his wounds a few years later, left any account of the battle from the Army's perspective. Joseph Sprague was unharmed and lived quite a while longer, but was not able to give an account of the battle as he had sought immediate refuge in a nearby pond. The Seminoles lost just three men, with five wounded. On the same day as the Dade Massacre, Osceola and his followers shot and killed Wiley Thompson and six others outside of Fort King.
1867 – U.S. claims Midway Island, first territory annexed outside Continental limits. The atoll was sighted on July 5, 1859, by Captain N.C. Middlebrooks, though he was most commonly known as Captain Brooks, of the sealing ship Gambia. The islands were named the "Middlebrook Islands" or the "Brook Islands". Brooks claimed Midway for the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which authorized Americans to occupy uninhabited islands temporarily to obtain guano. On August 28, 1867, Captain William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna formally took possession of the atoll for the United States; the name changed to "Midway" some time after this. The atoll became the first Pacific island annexed by the U.S. government, as the Unincorporated Territory of Midway Island, and administered by the United States Navy. Midway is the only island in the entire Hawaiian archipelago that was not later part of the State of Hawaii.
1941 – Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks requests that construction battalions be recruited. The need for a militarized Naval Construction Force to build advance bases in the war zone was self-evident. Therefore, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell determined to activate, organize, and man Navy construction units. On 28 December 1941, he requested specific authority to carry out this decision, and on 5 January 1942, he gained authority from the Bureau of Navigation to recruit men from the construction trades for assignment to a Naval Construction Regiment composed of three Naval Construction Battalions. This is the actual beginning of the renowned Seabees, who obtained their designation from the initial letters of Construction Battalion. Admiral Moreell personally furnished them with their official motto: Construimus, Batuimus — "We Build, We Fight."
1972 – After 11 days of round-the-clock bombing (with the exception of a 36-hour break for Christmas), North Vietnamese officials agree to return to the peace negotiations in Paris. The Linebacker II bombing was initiated on December 18 by President Richard Nixon when the North Vietnamese, who walked out of the peace negotiations in Paris, refused his ultimatum to return to the talks. During the course of the bombing, 700 B-52 sorties and more than 1,000 fighter-bomber sorties dropped an estimated 20,000 tons of bombs, mostly over the densely populated area between Hanoi and Haiphong. During the ensuing battle, the North Vietnamese launched their entire stock of more than 1,200 surface-to-air missiles against the U.S. planes. Fifteen B-52s and 11 other U.S. aircraft were lost, along with 93 flyers downed, killed, missing or captured. Hanoi claimed heavy damage and destruction of densely populated civilian areas in Hanoi, Haiphong, and their suburbs. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 1,318 in Hanoi. While some news reporters alleged that the U.S. was guilty of "carpet bombing" the area (deliberately targeting civilian areas with intensive bombing to "carpet" a city with bombs), the bombing was intended to focus on specific military targets. The Linebacker II bombing was effective in bringing the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table. When they returned to Paris, the peace talks moved along quickly. On January 23, 1973, the United States, North Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed a cease-fire agreement that took effect five days later.
2004 – Insurgents launched multiple attacks on Iraqi police across the dangerous Sunni Triangle, killing at least 33 police officers and national guardsmen. 12 of the policemen near Tikrit had their throats slit.
2004 – Insurgents lured police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel hideout, then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and wounding 18.
2014 – The United States and NATO formally ended their war in Afghanistan with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul as the insurgency they fought for 13 years remains as ferocious and deadly as at any time since the 2001 invasion that unseated the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
None this Day but here is one that is memorable
Thanks to George
Foley interview URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp1Q-2hGO_A&list=PLykQsswYygf_301ysGp7miirFcLC14IIT&index=10&t=164s
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for December 28, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
28 December
1942: Capt Robert O. D. Sullivan, first aviator to fly 100 times across the Atlantic Ocean, completed his 100th trip by flying from New York to Portugal. He made his first flight on 28-29 January 1938 from New York to Marseilles, France. (24)
1943: VIII Bomber Command formed a "Radio Countermeasure Unit," with 24 specially-equipped heavy bombers to support bombing missions. (4)
1952: KOREAN WAR. An SA-16 crew of the 3d Air Rescue Squadron picked up a downed pilot in the Yellow Sea north of Cho-do. He was in the water less than three minutes. (28)
1957: Capt James E. Bowman (U. S. Army) set a 30,335-foot world altitude record for helicopters in a Cessna YH41 Seneca at Wichita. (24)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SkipsList" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to skipslist+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/skipslist/CACTjsm1uD9wnGXM8LPzV3ryH1-j-uaBZMHejDZrRjaVxcpGMcQ%40mail.gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.